Like The Sun, Like The Moon
by Linnya
Summary: [Warning: This will not be finished anytime soon, sorry!] She, as bright and lively as the sun. He, as dark and mysterious as the moon. They couldn't have been more different. But then again, opposites attract, don't they? This is the story of Yuffie and Sephiroth.
1. Prologue

**Like The Sun, Like The Moon**

Prologue

Seven years ago, Wutai area

Anger.  
Fear.  
Frustration.  
Fear.  
Annoyance.  
Fear.

Panic.

Hiding behind a tree, she sat shivering with fright. Hopefully the Bad Men wouldn't find her. She was afraid of them. So very afraid of them.

Ever since they had marched into her hometown, they had been doing bad things. They had burnt houses, hurt her friends, scared everyone. And they just wouldn't stop. Oh, why wouldn't they stop?

They had hurt so many, and she was afraid it would be her turn soon.

But she didn't want to be hurt! She wanted things to be the way they had always been. She wanted to be with her daddy again, laugh with him, play with him.

And she wanted her mommy back. Oh, how she missed her.

Rummaging in her shorts' pocket, she pulled a small red orb out of it. Watching it always made her sentimental. It reminded her so much of her mommy. Well, this was not that much of a surprise, considering she had got it from her.

Smiling sadly at the only thing she had left from her mother, she could not help but sob.

She had wanted to cry for hours, yet so far she had been too busy escaping from the Bad Men. Now, however, as she was finally given the chance to rest more or less peacefully, one tin sob quickly turned into lots of them, getting louder and louder every time. The hot tears of sorrow just wouldn't stop rolling out of her eyes. She tried to wipe them away, but it wouldn't help one bit.

Trying vainly to compensate for her fruitless attempts at stopping her own weeping, she cowered further against the tree. Now at least deaf passersby wouldn't notice her. Anybody else, however, didn't have much of another chance but to perceive her not exactly quiet wails.

Fortunately – or is it unfortunately? – it weren't the Bad Men who found her first. Instead a massive brown birdlike fiend emerged in the sky. If she remembered correctly, it was called a thunderbird. And, as luck would have it, this particular thunderbird approached her in an alarming tempo.

Indeed it was so fast, she could barely stop crying and let her eyes widen to a degree matching her surprise and – whoosh! – it was right in front of her. But instead of ramming her frail frame into the tree with all the force it undoubtedly had, it merely grabbed the shiny red orb that was her treasured Leviathan materia and flew off, never to be seen again.

For a moment, the tiny girl sitting on a great oak tree's roots stared after the retreating monster, unmoving, shocked and full of disbelief.

But after a while the new information registered, and in one sudden movement, the girl jumped up, former fear and sadness completely forgotten. Or rather turned into an emotional outburst of pure anger.

Running after the thunderbird, she kept screaming as though all hell had broken loose.

"Give it back to me!" she shrieked in the shrill, high-pitched kind of voice only a nine year old girl could muster. And she did it over and over again. But even her yelling awfully colourful phrases one Cid Highwind would be ashamed to use was not convincing enough for the bird to return the precious materia.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity but actually wasn't much more than a minute, she ran out of stamina. After all a pre-teenage girl can only chase a bird so long.

Thus, having conveniently spent all her resources, she collapsed on the spot. Wailing once again.

Never did it cross her mind that she was technically still on the run from the Bad Men.

Never did she realize that maybe she would be better off _not_ crying audibly, sitting in the open.

Never did she notice someone sitting down next to her. Until he made his presence known, that is.

"Want an apple?" he asked in a low, smooth voice, while holding the temptingly red fruit right in front of her face.

Yet with said face currently buried somewhere between her knees and her chest as well as her ears flattened by her shoulders, she only vaguely acknowledged him. Not to mention that her thoughts were currently somewhere else anyways. Weeping, crying and fearing all day can do that to a child.

Fortunately, her company seemed to be the patient kind of person. And so, after just another little while, he repeated his offer, "Are you certain you don't want it?"

She shook her head, causing him to raise an eyebrow. "So you do want it," he stated, the corner of his mouth curling upward ever so slightly.

For a rather long time, it seemed as though she wouldn't react at all. But then again, her sobbing grew quieter, and after another while, she ceased crying completely, so she could fully concentrate on watching the man next to her out of the corner of her eye.

Well, she wasn't really able to see that much of him, with her face still hidden in a rather awkward way, but the strands of long, silvery hair and the bits of shiny black cloth she actually could see certainly intrigued her.

Finally, she raised her head a bit and cast another glance at him.

Classy, silver hair, spectacular, emerald eyes and a black leather coat that screamed "cool" in every way she looked at it, gave her the distinct feeling this was someone she should recognize. Some time ago, her father had told her about a man with silver hair and a awfully long katana. Her eyes widened as her gaze landed on the mighty sword lying peacefully yet lethally at the man's side, and she sincerely wished that, just this one time, she had listened to and actually memorized her father's words. But forgotten was forgotten. And thus, she would just have to find things out herself.

After clearing her throat – it would be most embarrassing to stutter her very first words in front of him – she spoke in a somewhat hesitant voice, "Are you a Bad Man?" Granted, this wasn't exactly the best thing to start a confrontation with, but she preferred knowing such things _before_ she decided whether to like him or not.

She had learnt from her father that eye contact was necessary to show others you are an honest person. Thus, she kept looking directly into the soldier's green orbs, while he was considering his answer with a slight frown. The silence didn't last long, and soon he returned her gaze, answering rather thoughtfully, "Well, it depends on how you define 'Bad Man'."

Even if he hadn't been watching her reaction, he would have been aware that this answer wouldn't satisfy the girl, so he added, "However, I don't consider myself a 'bad man'. I'm merely doing whatever is necessary, you see."

"And doing what's necessary can't be a bad thing, can it?" the girl concluded, her youthful face wrinkled in concentration, "I mean, if it's necessary, it's _in-e-witte_…" She coughed, flushing a little, "it must be done anyways, right?" With that, she broke into a huge grin and exclaimed cheerfully, "So you _are_ one of the good guys!"

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she might have been aware that her logic wasn't half as logical as she was thinking. But as she truly couldn't find anything bad about her new companion, putting him into the Bad Men category would be utterly unfair.

With that precaution being eventually taken care of, she made her final decision in favour of liking him. But it wasn't only the fact of him belonging to the good guys, but also his whole appearance: After all, he _did_ look strong, and cool, and still somewhat nice. He was trying to cheer her up after all, and beyond that, he appeared to be an honest person. He didn't seem to smile very often though. That she would have to change, she decided, as a smile really suited him. Yes, he would definitely have to become her friend!  
Grinning even wider, she turned on the spot. As she now faced him fully, she held out her right hand and exclaimed merrily, "I'm Yuffie, and I'm _o-ner-t_…" She cleared her throat before continuing, "and it's great to meet you!"

Her companion couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm, yet his face darkened a bit when he looked at her hand. Following his gaze, she shrieked in shock. Her hands were all bloody! And eventually she realized they were aching horribly. It must have been that mean bird's work. The bird that had stolen her mother's materia. Which caused her to start sniffing all over again.

Realizing that this might very well turn into another fit of wails every moment now, her company reacted quickly, turning around and patting the girl's back carefully. "Yuffie, come on, it is only half as bad," he spoke as soothingly as possible. "Just let me heal it, okay?"

Albeit sniffing bitterly, she complied holding out both her hands, which recovered promptly under the cure 2 spell of an experienced materia user.

"Thanks," she muttered. Yet she wouldn't stop sniffing.

"How did it happen?" he asked her in a quiet voice.

"There was a huge bird," she blubbered, "A big, fat, mean thunderbird." She sniffed quitely. "And it…" She sniffed noisily. "It STOLE MY MATERIA!" What followed was a long, ear-piercing wail. Yet even this one had to come to an end eventually. Afterwards, she was only snivelling quietly. She realized how childish she was behaving, so she tried to suppress her sorrow. She also noticed how stupid it must appear to be wailing over some materia, so she quickly explained herself, "It was my mother's Leviathan, you know. And there's only one of these in the whole wide world." She sniffed one final time and cast a quick, sad glance at her companion.

It wasn't much of a surprise that his reaction wasn't a very obvious one. Since the moment she had met him all those ten minutes ago, she had slowly come to realize that this man wasn't someone to show much of his emotions. But as she watched him closely, she could see his features soften into an almost sympathetic look. "I'm afraid I can't retrieve it for you," he stated softly, "But I can give you some sort of replacement instead." With that, he pulled a random orb out of his bracelet and offered it to the surprised girl in front of him. It was his mastered Enemy Skill materia, he realized. One of his favourites. But oh well, he could always get a new one later on.

Meanwhile Yuffie's eyes had widened immensely. "Is it really for me?" she asked shyly, eyeing the materia with both disbelief and desire. He simply nodded and let the yellow orb drop into her hands. "It's an Enemy Skill materia," he explained, "If the thunderbird ever decides to attack you again, you should just use it. It ought to handle such an enemy pretty quickly."

At this, Yuffie's wide eyes looked up at him in helpless puzzlement. "But I don't know how to use materia," she stated flatly.

One eyebrow rose, and almost did his lips curl upward at the irony of the situation. "I'll show you later on, okay?" he offered and got up from his sitting position, "But not right now. Let's first get back to Wutai, shall we? I bet they are looking for you already."

Suddenly, a panicked expression crossed Yuffie's features. "But," she blurted out anxiously, "But the Bad Men are still there!" She looked at him pleadingly. "We really shouldn't go back," she exclaimed gesticulating wildly, "They're dangerous! They yell and scream and destroy and they hurt everyone and they won't spare us and –" She stopped as her eyes once again wandered to her companion's six feet sword and after a while back to his face. "You are a warrior, aren't you?" she inquired, "And you're strong, aren't you? After all, you carry that huuuge sword around!" She gestured towards his katana and looked at him with the hugest puppy dog eyes she could muster. "Will you make the Bad Men go away?"

For a moment, he merely stood watching her hopeful yet heartbreaking appearance. _So this is why she is here in the first place_, he thought quite ruefully, _m__y subordinates have been hurting her. And obviously, other civilians as well._  
Unfortunately he had been called back to Midgar shortly before the war had officially ended. Nonetheless, his orders concerning the occupation of Wutai in the case of capitulation had been unmistakable: the soldiers were to exterminate any still existent resistance without harming innocents in any way. Unnecessary violence was to be prevented at any cost – in war bloodshed was inevitable, but certainly not afterwards.

Even if there had any been riots, whose non-existence he was completely aware of, children as young and naïve as Yuffie couldn't honestly be evaluated as a threat. His soldiers had dared defying him, and they would have to deal with the consequences…

A cruel smile crossed his lips at the thought of how exactly he was going to punish those who had disobeyed his orders, but he decided to let this decision wait until later. He wouldn't risk intimidating the girl any further by releasing one of his infamous Evil Smirks™ at her, even if only by accident. For now any cruel ideas had to be stored away in the back of his mind, so that he could focus again on the matters at hand, namely a small Wutainese girl called Yuffie. Smiling at her encouragingly, he told her truthfully but without revealing more than necessary, "I might not make them go away, but I guarantee you that they'll behave much better once I'm done with them."

Judging by her reaction, this answer obviously satisfied the girl: it didn't even take her half a second to shift from lamenting back to grinning widely. And apparently, all her energy had been restored along with her good mood; without any kind of warning, she jumped up and hugged him tightly. Or rather his leg. Anyways, once she let go of him again, she looked up at her rescuer and exclaimed happily, "Thank you so much! You are such a nice man –" She hesitated, frowning a bit. "But I _still_ don't know your name!" she pointed out.

"Oh, my manners…" he spoke with a sigh as he squatted down in front of her so their eyes were on one level. "My name is Sephiroth, and I am pleased to meet you, too."

He smiled, she grinned and then they shook hands.

As Sephiroth and his self-proclaimed travel guide (she had insisted upon leading them) wandered peacefully in the general direction of Wutai, the flinch that usually accompanied the recognition of his name never came. Instead, he found _himself_ flinching more often than not. And there was only one reason to it:

"Sephy, why do you wear gloves?"

"Sephy, do you still have that apple you offered me earlier? I'm starving!"

"Sephy, did you know I'm technically a Princess?"

"Sephy, are you really that strong?"

"Sephy, you are in the military, aren't you?"

"Wow, Sephy, you are a GENERAL!"

"But Sephy, doesn't that mean you are an enemy?"

"Yeah, the war is over. But, Sephy, why did there have to be a war at all?"

"Sephy, Wutai will get back to normal, won't it?"

"Sephy, you are in charge of those Bad Men, right? And you are one of the Good Guys. SO the Bad Men will have to become Good Guys as well!"

"And with everyone being good in the end, Wutai will get better too, won't it, Sephy?"

The questions he could stand. In fact, he liked the way Yuffie was interested in just about everything. And it was also somewhat nice to answer her questions. Even when he told her he was ShinRa's General, she wasn't afraid of him. Not quite. She tended to see positive aspects of life, which was something he valued greatly.

No, the questions themselves weren't the problem. It was the horrible mutilation of his name that gave him the creeps.

"Yuffie, do you mind not calling me Sephy or anything similar, at least not in public?"

"Why?" Wide, pleading eyes looked up at him.

"I've got a reputation to maintain, you know."

She pondered for a moment, but eventually agreed. "Okay – but only if you call me Yuff!"

An eyebrow rose in disbelief. "Yuff."

"All my friends call me Yuff!" she exclaimed merrily, bouncing all the time.

"So we are friends now?"

"Of course we are!"

Indeed it was an utterly hilarious sight: the Great General Sephiroth, cruel leader of the ShinRa army, befriending young Yuffie Kisaragi, innocent and permanently laughing Princess of Wutai, shortly after a war that ought to have triggered off hatred on either side. Not to mention that this would be his first so-called friendship ever.

The irony just couldn't have been greater. And still, if fate wanted it to be this way, he had no problems humouring it.

"So let's be friends, _Yuff_."

"Yeah! Sephy – ahem – _Sephiroth_, you are the greatest!"

…

"May I at least call you Sephy as long as no one's listening?"

End of the Prologue

* * *

A/N: I hope you liked it, even if it was only the prologue – the very beginning of a story that is actually set during the game. But, you see, Yuffie and Seph had to get to know each other somehow, and I rather like the idea of them befriending _before_ the Nibelheim incident. 

Oh, and before I forget it…

Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or anything even remotely connected to it.

Anyways, thank you for reading. People reading my stuff really means a lot to me. But what means even more to me is people reading and actually_reviewing_ my story. So I'd really appreciate if you clicked that nice, little button that must be

v under here somewhere v and tell me your opinion straight away!

Greetings to all of you (especially my _dearly beloved_ beta JP Stone)

Linnya


	2. On That Day, Five Years Ago

**Like The Sun, Like The Moon**

Chapter One

Since the very minute the Great General Sephiroth had entered the battered town of Wutai, things had improved for everyone. Everyone except for those who had disobeyed him, that is.  
Being the reasonable general he was, he had set things straight immediately.  
He had proclaimed that the soldiers had never been allowed to mistreat any civilians and would therefore be punished severely – which was his way of apologizing, Yuffie guessed. Furthermore, several inspectors would arrive in the near future to investigate the area regarding its mako resources. Beyond that, however, ShinRa wouldn't interfere with Wutainese politics as long as their superiority wasn't opposed.  
Quite frankly, this solution had been approved pretty quickly without anybody refusing. Of course having power plants standing all over Wutai wasn't much of a thrilling prospect, but at least there ShinRa hadn't demanded anything else.  
As luck would have it, there weren't even any mako resources to be found in the Wutai area. Realizing this pretty quickly, the ShinRa inspectors left again after only two weeks. Not much later, the soldiers stationed there were ordered back to Midgar as well.

In the end, all that was left was what had been there in the first place. Only with the slight difference that everything had been marked by a worthless war: Wutai's landscape, its buildings and most of all, its people themselves.  
It wasn't any longer the wealthy, powerful nation it had once been. Its people had lost their will to fight for their hometown's glory and turned it into tourist attraction instead.

Yuffie could understand the initial reaction her fellow citizens had shown. Even if she hadn't been present at the battles themselves, she _had_ witnessed Wutai's occupation and lived in fear of the soldier's cruelty for many frightened days. Therefore, she was somewhat able to relate to her people's…brokenness. She could comprehend their desperation, and she certainly wasn't about to accuse them of trying to go on with their lives. What she couldn't understand, however, was the_ way _they had adapted to this new situation.  
They had buried their pride underneath their feet and were stomping over it on a daily basis, serving tourists from formerly hostile countries with a brainless, subordinate smile plastered all over their faces.

Yuffie hated this pathetic, humiliating attitude of theirs, and she had no problems showing her displeasure openly.

"Let's throw all the tourists out of Wutai and strengthen our _ee-connemy_ instead!" she suggested enthusiastically, when one day she found her father to be in an exceptionally good mood, "We can grow tomaccos in the south, cotton in the north and we can have tasty jellyfish caught by huge vessels. And then we'll sell everything to other countries, and within a jiffy we'll be rich again!" She made a short pause while beaming meaningfully at her father and eventually concluded her speech, "Let's return to the proud and wealthy nation we once were! Let's rebuild Wutai!"  
She had used everything to convince him – passionate gesturing, great arguments and her indestructible optimism. In her humble opinion, she had done a great job in presenting her plans, and nobody would have another chance but to listen to her advice.  
Yet sadly, convincing someone was only possible as long as there was a small chance of success to begin with.  
But trying to convince Godo to develop some national pride was like…like…like telling a cow to respect the mountain it's living on.

He had never understood his daughter's motives, he hadn't even attempted to do so, and somehow he didn't appear willing to start now.  
During her little speech, he had merely been sitting there, listening to her ideas without ever really taking them into account. However, she only realised this after hearing his final decision.  
"Yuff, I'm glad you are developing such nice plans to help our nation," he claimed, not without a tiny hint of pride in his voice, "and I really appreciate your enthusiasm, you see." In a way that strangely reminded her of a father forbidding his child some sort of candy, he smiled at her with sympathy. And already was his behaviour driving her mad. Yuffie wasn't dumb, she could see what was going to come next, and she didn't like it one bit.

"However I am afraid we can't realize your plans," Godo declared, pathetically feigning a genuine look of apology. She was tempted to slam her knee staight into his ever so harmlessly smiling face, when her father, albeit somewhat aware of her steadily intensifying fury, happened to carry it to the extremes. "We are already doing what is best for Wutai," he spoke seriously, "Thanks to the tourists, and thanks to ShinRa, we have been able to start a much more profitable business than ever before, and we fully intend to keep it going this way. Your plans and goals are honourable, Yuff, but at the moment, they are just impossible to accomplish."

These words had been the last straw.

You could practically see the steam shooting out of her ears as she jumped up, yelled lots of inventive phrases at her father and stomped out of the pagoda.

It was times like these when she really hated him for his spinelessness.

Really.

Some weeks later, when he was finally back in town, Yuffie confronted Sephiroth with her problem.

"I've noticed it as well," he admitted as he comfortably leant back against a certain tree in the wilderness that had become their _secret meeting point_. "It's utterly sad to watch a proud nation go down like this. Half a century ago, the same happened in Costa del Sol, and you know what's become of it by now." Sometimes, when doing paperwork back in Midgar, he found himself wondering just how he had ended up as her friend. Just why he kept visiting her. But every time he did visit her, he realized the answer to these questions anew: It was so terribly relaxing around her. No need to be on guard all the time, no need to be the _General_. And besides, the girl loved him like a brother, and, well, he couldn't claim he didn't somehow like her too. So in some weird kind of way, Yuffie had become the family he had never had. Although phrasing it this way made it sound far too absurd for his liking. Hence he simply cut that train of thought and glanced upward to watch the girl's reaction to his words.

Up in the tree's branches, brown eyes were widening in surprise. "You mean Costa del Sol has been _in-dee-penn-dent_ once, just like Wutai?" She stared down at him disbelievingly.

"Yes, it is true," he answered in his smooth, calm baritone whilst returning her gaze, "although its situation didn't change due to a war, but rather because it had no problem with giving up its pride to begin with."

"I don't want Wutai to become like Costa del Sol!" Yuffie whined, emphasizing her point by squirming around in the tree's crown, sending many leaves down at her silver haired friend. Her silver haired **_best_** friend, mind you.

Her antics didn't really bother Sephiroth. Snatching one of the falling leaves, he absentmindedly studied it while continuing the conversation rather nonchalantly, "So what are you going to do about it?"

"I want us to _dee-pennd_ less on tourists and more on things like farming and such," she responded confidently, "and once we've got enough for ourselves we'll _ix-poat_ the rest and become wealthier than ever!"

If things were only that simple…

"That's a really good idea," he encouraged her, unable to suppress a smile at her optimism. "Even if it still needs some tiny improvements."

"Yeah, it ain't perfect yet," Yuffie admitted somewhat grumpily, "but at least it's a step in the **right** direction, y'know."

She looked down at him meaningfully.

He looked back.

"I only wish my father would notice that," she finally concluded.

"You haven't been able to convince him?" Sephiroth asked with a frown.

"He wouldn't even listen to me!" she whined, squirming once again.

He chuckled lightly at her admittedly fairly funny behaviour and offered, "Then you'll just have to try harder." Although he wasn't watching her right now, he could practically feel a pouting eleven-year-old's piercing glare on the top of his head. "You'll have to be persistent," he went on with a shrug, "I could certainly pull a few strings for you, but I doubt me trying to persuade Godo would be a very good idea." He straightened somewhat and continued, "Thus, you will have to convince him yourself. I don't think this will be too much of a problem for you. Just give him some time to think about it. Occasionally you might want to drop some remark to remind him. And after a while, once he's gotten the idea, you explain your plans again." He paused briefly and finished, "At least that's how I would do it." Looking back up at her, he realized his last statement wasn't completely true. "…If I were you, that is."

Obviously deep in thought, Yuffie merely nodded while she was subconsciously already thinking of some smart remarks she would pester her father with. "I only hope it will work," she eventually mumbled.

The answer she received was a confident "Naturally." from below her.

And she _really_ hoped it would work.

Well, at least she had a plan now. And once she would have persuaded her father, she knew Sephy would support her achieving her aim. He was a powerful fellow after all. So nothing could go wrong, right?

Suddenly he broke the comfortable silence that had fallen between them as he gently rose from his sitting position. Alarmed by the rustling of leather, a sound she dreaded every time they were sitting under their tree, Yuffie got up as well. She almost fell off the tree as she scrambled on a lower branch in order to stare at her **_best_** friend pleadingly. "You aren't leaving already, are you?" she whined.

"I'm afraid I must," he told her somewhat apologetically as he took her out of the tree's crown and placed her safely on the ground. "I've got to go to Nibelheim next week. Of course I would love to skip it, but Hojo insisted on my attendance."

For a while, she just stood there pouting with her arms folded in front of her. Yet eventually she gave in. "Next time you'll stay longer, okay?" she demanded, staring up at him with that horribly cute expression of hers that was actually meant to be reproachful.

Patting her head, he bent down to her and smiled gently. "Promised."

The sad thing is, there had never been a next time.

Yuffie had always been aware of her best friend's busy schedule. Important people tended not to have much free time. She knew that.

However, Sephiroth had always found an opportunity to pay her a visit once in a while.  
Sometimes, he would come officially to discuss certain matters, as he used to put it, with her father.  
Sometimes, when on holiday, he would spend whole weeks in Wutai, much to Yuffie's delight.  
Usually, he wouldn't stay away longer than a few months.  
Usually, Yuffie wouldn't have to look forward to their next meeting too long.

Usually, Sephiroth wouldn't get himself killed in the meantime.

After two months without as much as a message, Yuffie began to feel anxious about her **_best_** friend. Not much later, she was worried sick about him and wouldn't stop asking everyone if they knew of his whereabouts. Eventually, after six months of uncertainty, a Junonian traveller told her some news that caused her world to crumble.

Sephiroth had died.

He was dead.

Dead.

Dead like in 'returned to the Planet'.

Dead like in 'gone forever'.

Dead like in 'never to be seen again'.

Yuffie had been crying for days.  
She had been suffering for weeks.  
She had been grieving for months.

She had been remembering…forever.

End of Chapter One

* * *

A/N: Well, apparently the real plot still hasn't begun yet :p I guess one can consider this chapter as some kind of transition, showing what kind of bond has developed between Yuffels and Seph and what else has happened between their first and their, well, last meeting.  
But don't worry, he won't stay dead forever. Actually, he might reappear in the next chapter already… but that you'll have to find out yourselves. I am going to update very soon, so you won't have to wait too long.

In the meantime, you might want to send me review and tell me your opinion about the chapter, the whole story, the story's development or anything else you want to inform me about. I really appreciate it.  
You see, just like any writer, I love reviews, and subsequently, I love reviewers. And where we are already at it – I've really got to thank all those lovely people who had the heart to review the prologue, namely Magenta Rain, Music Lover Always, Vanya the Elven Maiden of the Valar, saharasfury, ShadowSessMarlfox and Miiake. You guys are great, and I hope you liked this chapter as well, even though I didn't exactly give Yuffie her materia back. Yet. Indeed she _might_ regain it, but only much later in the story.

Anyways, thank you all for reading and (hopefully) reviewing this little story of mine.

Greetings,  
Linnya


	3. Encounter In The Woods

**Like The Sun, Like The Moon**

Chapter Two

"Yeah, the war is over. But, Sephy, why did there have to be a war at all?" nine-year-old Yuffie Kisaragi asked her latest friend as they were on their way to Wutai.

She could see traces of a frown forming on his forehead as he considered an answer. How to explain something there is no reasonable explanation to?

But he had to give it a try anyway, he owed her that much. "From time to time, people disagree," he finally responded in a rather detached manner, "And sometimes, the people disagreeing are the heads of two nations. As they are representing their whole state, a conflict between two people can quickly turn into one between two whole nations. And if it cannot be settled peacefully, it has to be solved…less peacefully."

Watching her out of the corner of his eye, he noticed her observing her feet in a depressingly sad manner. "You know, a war is never a good thing," he continued after a while, "But in a way, it might help to prevent another one, as well as those to follow, and therefore also got its positive aspects." Still watching her, he found a look of utter bewilderment directed at him. "You might consider it a rather cruel concept," he admitted, "But with ShinRa having taken over Wutai, another war between them is quite unlikely to arise, don't you agree?"

By now, the girl was obviously getting the idea. "But what if the _dizz-egree-mend_ isn't solved by the first war?" she pointed out, "Then there'll be another one."

"Not if the president does his job. After all, he is supposed to rule his terrain to everyone's satisfaction," he responded, more to set the child at ease than out of his actual conviction, "But believe me, even if he doesn't do his job, someone will…take care of him before anybody will even think of starting a new war."

* * *

"Obviously the president hasn't been doing his job very well lately," sixteen-year-old Yuffie Kisaragi muttered absentmindedly as she was sitting on a random tree, skimming through the latest Junon Times while devouring one of those tasty red apples that only grew in the Junon area.

"President ShinRa stabbed in his office," said the huge headline visible on just about every page of the newspaper in one way or the other. Yuffie had never really been interested in high society and the like; however the ad placed conveniently next to a picture of the rather voluminous, balding man, definitely amused her. "Swords by Brick – break even the thickest shells!" it said.

Nice one.

She wondered briefly whether the high-ranking officials at ShinRa would notice the slightly macabre prank. If they carried even the tiniest bit of brain in their heads, they would have a hard time missing the sarcasm. And if they only remotely cared about their company's reputation, they'd at least have the heart to scold whoever had pulled off this joke. But then again, she had heard the strangest things about said officials.

Maybe they really gave a damn about ShinRa's image. Maybe they were really incompetent. Maybe they were really just as dumb as bread.

No, these were not what you'd call reassuring thoughts. _Later on I'll really have to check what's become of the editor of this newspaper_, she decided as she jumped off the tree and stretched. Then, after accidentally dropping the apple's remains as well as folding and storing her Junon Times, she made sure all her equipment was still in place – she really couldn't afford losing anything in the middle of the wilderness.

Weapon? Her 4-ponit-shuriken was loosely fastened to her back, ready to be used immediately in case of an ambush. Check.

Money? 671 Gil tinkling happily in her money back. Check. Even if she didn't exactly bother counting them.

Materia? The ones she had, well, _gained_ on her travels were stored safely in her backpack, whereas those she liked to utilize in battle were attached to her Carbon Bangle. She made no use of the spots in her shuriken as it was far smoother to handle without the additional weight. Beyond that, there were only two materia she ever used anyway. Thinking about it, it was actually only one: her precious, prized, good-for-everything Enemy Skill materia. No matter how big, strong or peculiar her enemy, this certain piece of condensed Lifestream would always provide her with a wonderful little spell to defeat it.

Ironically, the other materia she had always equipped was a plain, simple All. At first, she had merely intended to master it and sell it for a nice sum of money afterwards. But with the time, she had grown to love it for its sheer hilarity. It just wouldn't cooperate with her other favourite materia in any way. And still, somehow she couldn't imagine her almighty Enemy Skill without its useless counterpart anymore. They were such a nice couple.

And maybe, possibly, but only under certain circumstances, her precious All might come in handy after all. For example, what was she to do if she ever ran out of MP? Right, she would take out her good, ole friend All and knock her enemy out by tossing it right between its eyes.

Granted, not the most promising one, but at least she _had_ a Plan B.

Satisfied with her equipment – everything was where it was supposed to be – she wept some dirt off her clothes and checked the sky. It was as blue as it could ever get, which was great, because that meant the sunny weather would last at least a little while longer.

And Yuffie loved the sunny weather. Walking Through A Green Sunlit Scenery On A Warm Summer's Day was her second most wanted scenario, and it was only outmatched by Walking Through A Green Sunlit Scenery On A Warm Summer's Day With An Adorable Boyfriend At Her Side. But as the latter wasn't very likely to occur in the near future, she was just as satisfied with her second choice.

You see, she really loved sunny days, and she sincerely hoped the weather would stay that great for, say, the next seventy years. At least that's what she decided as she averted her glance back from the lovably blue sky to her immediate surroundings – and recognized with an ear-shattering scream the massive form of a Zemzelett standing only several meters away from her.

And then it started moving.

Towards her.

But it wasn't flying as you'd expect from an eight feet tall and twice as wide, green-whiteish bird. No, it was stomping.

Stomping.

On its _feet_.

And _although_ it was stomping, it had its wings spread wide.

But not in a dangerous way – no – the way it held its wings made it look as tough it was about to hug her every moment now.

Which freaked her out.

A giant bird with feet and a craving for affection certainly wasn't something you would like to be, well, threatened by on a wonderfully relaxing afternoon. Especially not if it caught you by surprise.

Actually, a Zemzelett could be assessed as a rather nice fellow. Being the weak, fluffy creature it undoubtedly was, it might not qualify as a dangerous fiend, but definitely as a nice pillow. Or rather as a bed, considering its size.

Yet in order to befriend it as an ersatz pillow, you would have to get over some of its rather intimidating qualities. Like its feet, for example. Or its size. Or maybe its habit to emerge right in front of you without giving even the slightest kind of warning.

With all three of these unique features, Yuffie was currently having her problems. This feathery fellow had almost given her a heart attack after all.

And it was _still_ approaching her. Fortunately, stomping wasn't the fastest way of moving, which provided her with all the time she needed to regain her composure.

Naturally, once her initial shock had finally subsided, she was getting angrier and angrier by the second. She absolutely hated being caught by surprise like that.

Hence she eventually put all her anger into a disastrous attack as she hurled her shuriken at the Zemzelett. And hit it right in the belly.

It must have hurt a lot, but apparently she hadn't defeated the monster yet.

"You're a tough fella, ain'tcha," she muttered as she prepared her next attack – only to find out her shuriken hadn't returned. She blinked and observed her birdy foe. Of course. The shuriken was stuck in its belly. She'd have to pull it out afterwards.

How had she ever expected it to come back to her anyway? Once she even remotely hit her enemy, it just had to be stuck. Another reason never ever to attach any materia to it. Once she needed it, it wouldn't be available anyway.

Heaving an irritated sigh, she touched her Carbon Bangle which caused the Enemy Skill in it to glow in its nice amber colour. This wouldn't take much longer. Thanks to a quick Trine the fiend was crushed immediately. Then, in the mysterious and actually rather impossible way every monster tended to leave this world, it glowed red for a second and finally disintegrated into thin air, leaving nothing behind but a Hi-Potion, 165 Gil and, fortunately, her 4-point-shuriken.

Leisurely walking towards the Zemzelett's remains, she sighed once again. This had been quite a bothersome encounter. Well, at least she had earned herself some easy money.

But just in the moment she was about to pick up her rewards, another birdlike monster tackled her several steps backward.

A Formula, she realized while coughing out some blood.

She couldn't believe how hard that bird had hit her.

Just another reason to hate birds. Which she already did anyways. Never would they leave her alone, and never would they miss a chance to ambush her. Oh, she really hated birds!

Mentally cursing her _still_ absent 4-point-shuriken, she prepared to cast a nasty Flame Thrower at her enemy. Yet the blue-violet fiend wouldn't give her a chance to do so as it rapidly thrust her into the very same tree she had just been resting on.

_I'll really have to buy a scarecrow sometime soon_, she told herself as she struggled to keep the Formula's claws away from her.

As luck would have it, she managed to protect her face from being deformed by defensively holding up her arms, but happened to lose her only hope of success in the process when the bird hit her bangle, causing her Enemy Skill to hop out its spot and roll away from her.

Gradually, her disbelieving stare shifted from the crazily kicking fiend in front of her to the fleeing piece of materia in the distance, then to the empty hole it had inhabited until a moment ago and finally to the only protection she still had left: Her _omnipotent_ All.

_Time for Plan B then_, she thought bitterly as she removed the white orb from her bangle and aimed. She knew it was a hilarious attempt to turn the tide, but it might at least serve as a distraction. Hence, she waited for the right moment and – There! – flipped the materia right between the fiend's eyes.

It would have hit.

But it didn't; possibly on instinct, the Formula caught the materia with its beak as though she had tossed it some cookie. Unable to break the All, it blinked with confusion and continued trying to eat it, the helpless girl in front of it completely forgotten.

This was her chance, and she seized it without hesitation. Jumping up rapidly, she tried to reach her Enemy Skill while the bird was still occupied with her materia. Unfortunately, she stumbled over her own leg even before she had gotten up completely and fell back against the tree, cursing furiously.

Naturally, that directed the Formula's attention back to her. Without further ado, it dropped the All, screeched loudly and rose in the air, as it evidently prepared to lunge at her.

Leaning against the tree in a position that wouldn't allow her moving whatsoever, Yuffie didn't have much of another chance but to admit her defeat. That fiend was going to crush her.

But she didn't want to die!

Not yet! And not in a battle with a goddamned bird!

It was so unfair!

Awaiting her soon demise, Yuffie couldn't help but sniff. Quickly her eyes began to water, and she closed them in the vain attempt to hold back her tears. Well, this way she at least wouldn't need to see the bird's final attack.

Which, strangely enough, never came.

When she heard a loud thump just above her, she dared opening her eyes again and gazed in the only direction her current position would allow her to. Diagonally upward.

What she saw relieved and puzzled her at the same time. The bird had been stabbed neatly, pinned against the tree by a seemingly endless, silver blade wielded by a mysterious black-clad figure.

Looking closely, she meant to recognize some strands of silver hair as well as those haunting green eyes she had oh so often found herself staring at in her dreams.

She didn't quite know whether she was hallucinating or not. And it didn't really matter at the moment anyway. Her HP had been in the yellow for quite a while now, and she was tired. Exhausted. Worn out.

Even if her knight in shining armour was a mere hallucination, she was about to meet him in the Land Of Dreams anyway. And she needed that nap. She needed it badly.

"I really hate birds, y'know," she finally mumbled and allowed her head to drop in exhaustion.

And then she fainted.

* * *

For the first time in five years, Sephiroth felt _refreshed_.

Even though it hadn't necessarily been a part of his mission, killing the president must have been just about the best idea he had ever had. All frustrations that had been growing inside of him during his forced vacation in the Lifestream had expired once he had seen the red liquid emerging from a neatly stabbed wound in the old geezer's torso.

And you really couldn't blame him. Half of the Planet's population would feel the same way after murdering the president. The man _had_ deserved this punishment, if not a much more painful one.

Just to point out some facts, he _had_ started a completely useless war to enhance his company's influence even further. He _had_ affirmed the whole Jenova Project for being able to take advantage of the Ancients' powers. He _had_ been manipulating the whole world for several decades already and would have gone on doing so if nobody had stopped him.

No, President Shinra had definitely not been a very honourable man.

And that is exactly why Sephiroth doubted anyone had really minded him killing off the man. Actually, he'd bet quite a lot of ShinRa's employees had already been planning a quick assassination anyways, being constantly mistreated by him. Still, Sephiroth had had as much right to murder him as anyone. He had been suffering thanks to the president's orders as well.

And his revenge had been…sweet.

In fact, it had boosted his mood infinitely. Even the battle with a Midgar Zolom, which had been a hassle in every way you looked at it, couldn't keep him from humming 'One Winged Angel' permanently while arranging the fiend's corpse in a most fashionable way and passing the Mithril Mine afterwards.

He might have continued his little hymn forever if he hadn't been interrupted by a shrill shriek originating somewhere in the woods.

For a moment, he stood wondering whether to have the courtesy of helping the damsel in distress whose exhilarating voice he had just perceived or whether not to do it.

He was in somewhat of a hurry after all.

On the other hand, he hadn't performed any good deeds since the murder of president Shinra.  
Honestly, aiding some vulnerable woman couldn't take too much of his time, could it?

This decision being made, he approached the scream's origin in several swift yet soundless strides and reached it just in time to watch his Damsel in Distress flip a white piece of materia at a Formula hovering right above her. This rather inventive use of an otherwise useless support materia as well as the bird's reaction to it certainly amused him.

However he wasn't willing to risk the girl's life – she really was merely a girl, not quite a woman yet – by waiting for this little game to finish. Instead, he put an end to it himself by simply yet effectively thrusting his Masamune straight through the monster into the tree behind it.

A second later, the fiend disintegrated and he pulled his sword back out of the wood.

It was then that he heard the girl mutter something. She spoke so quietly he wasn't able to understand her. However, her voice sounded vaguely familiar, he couldn't quite put his finger on it though.

Maybe she was a part of that AVANLANCHE group? Hm. Not that mattered right now anyways. The girl had just fainted and he would have to make sure she'd survive it. A quick glance at the Stat-O-Meter strapped around her wrist like a watch told him in blinking yellow numbers she had only ten HP left.

This situation screamed for a Cure spell. Unfortunately, as he didn't need them anyway, he currently owned neither materia nor potions, which unnecessarily complicated things.

He'd have to use some of the girl's possession, but Looking Through A Barely Clothed Girl's Pockets wasn't his most favoured course of action.  
He might tend to slaughter people without any reason whatsoever, but checking their possessions, which meant actually _touching_ them, was a completely different matter. And he didn't particularly _like_ touching others.

Unfortunately, he might eventually have to do it this time. But he'd only lay a hand on the girl if it couldn't be avoided.

While eyeing her critically, he noticed once again how little clothing she was wearing on her skinny body. She had short, brown hair and a youthful, Wutainese face.

It was weird: not only did he seem to recognize her voice, but she also looked familiar. Awfully familiar.

…………

……………

………………Damn.

The girl lying half-dead in front of him was Yuffie.

Yuffie.

The only person on the whole planet he hadn't intended to ever meet again. Not because he couldn't stand her, no, but rather because he didn't wish her to get involved with him and his mission any more than she already was.

It was then that he realized just how trivial his train of thought currently was and mentally slapped himself._ Don't think about that now. You've got to cure her as soon as possible._

All phobias momentarily forgotten, he quickly checked her bangle for any materia.

Nothing.

But he remembered her tossing an All at the Formula. That meant she must also have had some materia to go along with it. Maybe she had lost it?

Checking his immediate surroundings for anything shimmering, he soon noticed a yellow orb some metres away. _My old Enemy Skill materia?_ he wondered as he strode towards it and picked it up, _So she kept it after all, which also explains what she was trying to accomplish with her little stunt._

Once he had returned to her unconscious form he cast a White Wind as well as, just in case, a Big Guard at her and placed the materia in one of her bangle's slots afterwards.

Then he lifted her up to lean her against the tree in a far more comfortable position than sprawled on the ground with all her limbs spread out in impossible and most likely painful ways.

He'd prefer carrying her to the next inn and leaving her there instead of a potentially dangerous forest, but considering those meddlesome turks had their noses everywhere nowadays, he didn't have much of a choice. If he was seen carrying Yuffie around, they wouldn't stop pestering her.

No, he really didn't need that. Furthermore there was still that tiny possibility she hadn't even recognized him.

_I might use Jenova's powers to keep her from following me around… But no. Not today, not on Yuffie_, he mused whilst watching the girl's sleeping form. She sure had grown a lot, which reminded him once again just how long he had been away. Five years. Quite a long time indeed. Especially if you spent them floating in the Lifestream.

Oh well.

At least the girl had to have gotten over his absence by now. Just another reason not to reveal his _resurrection_ to her. Granted, 'resurrection' wasn't quite the right word to describe his comeback from the dead, but as it sounded much nicer than the truth he'd simply use it anyway.

Judging by her earlier exhaustion, Yuffie would still be sleeping for another ten minutes at the very least. He'd prefer making sure she wasn't attacked again until she awoke, nonetheless Sephiroth decided it was time to set out for Junon. Missing the next ship to Costa del Sol wasn't an option. He absolutely _had_ to move on without any unnecessary delay.

As he carefully checked the area for any threats that might try hurting the girl he was about to leave behind defencelessly, he didn't find any monsters, but instead a small, white orb sparkling from the ground near his feet. Obviously, that was her All materia. "Just what do you need it for if there is no way it would ever cooperate with your Enemy Skill?" he asked her, completely aware that she was still dreaming but still mystified by her peculiar habit.

Yet once he considered the way she had used to act five years ago, he was quickly able to comprehend her reasoning. "There is no cause at all, is there?" he stated with a somewhat amused smirk.

When he continued his monologue after a long moment of silence, however, he did it in a quiet, almost sad voice, "Then I believe you won't mind me keeping it as a reminder." Once he had placed the All in his Gold Armlet, he looked one last time at the girl he had developed a bizarre fondness of all those years ago.

"Farewell, Yuff. For your own sake, I hope we'll never meet again."

End of Chapter Two

* * *

A/N: So after all those years, their paths have finally again. Even if Yuffie was unconscious most of the time. Ahem.

Hopefully I could live up to your expectations (I myself rather like this chapter), so please don't decapitate me for having _another_ materia taken from Yuffie. Just couldn't resist. If she keeps carrying around one of his materia, he should be entitled to carry around one of hers as well, right?

At least that's my opinion. If you happen to think otherwise, if you happen to think likewise or if you don't have an opinion at all, you are very welcome to tell me in form of a review!

At this point, I'd like to thank some great people for their great reviews:

Thank you, Magenta Rain, saharasfury, Music Lover Always, ShadowSessMarlfox, yournamehere (great nickname, by the way :), Gining and JPStone (That's the one you've got to blame for the whole All materia affair, just to let you know) You guys are amazing!

The next chapter shall be up by the weekend. Unless the incredible mountain of homework I've stil got to do doesn't bury me alive, that is.

So thanks for reading and stay tuned!

Greetings,  
Linnya


	4. Turk's Theme

**Like The Sun, Like The Moon**

Chapter Three

The faint noise of footsteps in the distance.

Growing louder.

And louder.

And louder.

"Darn, can't you be a bit quieter!" she yelled in annoyance, jerking awake within half a second.

"What the hell…"

There was no one even remotely near her. Maybe those footfalls had only been a part of her dream? Even though she couldn't remember what exactly it had been this time, when asleep she usually witnessed utterly weird, most confusing things which made no sense whatsoever, hence it wouldn't be much of a surprise.

However she could still hear some footfalls, although not as clearly as before. Turning her head eastward, she noticed a group of five people marching audibly through the woods.

Immediately, a nasty grin spread on Yuffie's face. Passing the woods like that was like screaming "Rob me! Rob me!" at the top of one's voice.

Well, being the helpful girl she was, she'd do them the favour.

Without a second though, she picked her shuriken from where it had been resting next to her on the ground and dashed off towards her latest victims.

Ten minutes later she was sitting in a tree, happily counting the money she had just earned. Granted, she had been defeated by them – what else would you expect from a three against one battle? – but that hadn't kept her from outwitting them. That idiotic blond should have told her his name before asking for hers, really. How bad manners could one have?

Well, his horrible behaviour had cost him 700 Gil.

Honestly, she should have taken more. The petty amount she had stolen was nothing compared to what they had to be carrying around with them. Just look at all the shiny, expensive armour they were wearing! But sadly, they were gone now. She would have to live with a few Gil less, there was just no way she could change it right now.

…or was there?

She might simply ambush them again. And this time, she wouldn't even give them the chance to notice her presence!

_Now, where have these guys gone?_

After pondering for a moment, she remembered watching them continuing their way westwards, which meant they were headed to Junon. Even better. It was slowly getting dark and she would have to return to her apartment anyway.

…

Wait a second.

It was slowly getting dark?

What had she missed?

She couldn't have slept all afternoon, could she?

How come she had let her guard down like that anyway? Taking a nap in an open area like this, where _millions_ of hostile fiends were residing, wasn't something she tended to do very often. In fact, she had never done something like this in her whole life. Up until now, that is.

Just what the heck had happened?

Perhaps there had been something in her food? Yeah, that was likely. Maybe a Caterpie had been in one of the apples she had eaten earlier. Oh well. That at least explained it. And as obviously there weren't any consequences besides some lost hours, she'd just look over the incident and turn her attentions to the more important issues.

Like following a spikey-headed jerk to Junon in order to gain some easy money, for example. Yeah, ripping them off for a second time would definitely be a hell lot of fun…

… But somehow, she couldn't muster the malice to rob them once she discovered them saving a little girl from drowning. Mister There-Is-More-Gel-Than-Hair-On-My-Head might be a tactless jerk, but at least he _had_ a heart, somewhere inside of that lilac cuboid he called a chest. Thus, she wouldn't rob him again.

At least not right now.  
Maybe later.  
Probably later.  
But not right now, no.

Instead, she went straight to the Shinra guard in charge of the elevator and greeted him with a rather lazy wave of her hand, "Hey Pierre, how is it going?"

The brunette's bored expression brightened in an instant as he recognized her. "Yo Yuff!" he responded with a somewhat relieved grin. However, he went on much less enthusiastically as he reported to her, "Today's been a real mess. Because of the president's death, the whole management is panicking. His murderer is still on the loose, and they say he's heading this way." He laughed nervously and let his head drop. "In times like these, I really hate guarding the elevator."

"Oh, c'mon, how bad can it be?" she offered, patting him reassuringly on the shoulder.

"I guess not too bad," he responded, apparently regaining his good mood, "As long as you are here, that is."

"So," she spoke in a low, somewhat joke-seductive voice, "you want me to wait here until your shift is over?"

"Well, actually, yes," he simply answered, releasing an appallingly cute, innocent smile at her.

"And then what?" she inquired in rather sceptical manner, as she graciously ignored the infamous expression of his that regularly managed to persuade just about anyone.

Yuffie excluded.

Nonetheless his sheepish smile never faltered as he suggested, "A nice dinner for two maybe?"

At that, the ninja tilted her head, pondering. "Actually, I was planning on drinking my head off _right now_," she finally pointed out. It wasn't that she didn't like him or anything, but she really needed that alcohol. Badly. She had eaten a poisoned apple, she had had to deal with an annoying blond, and then she had even lost her All materia. Her good mood might not exactly have suffered from these incidents, but – damn, she had **lost** her **All materia**! – they had definitely spoiled her day. And at the moment, she saw the only way of getting over it in a huge glass of vodka. Which she needed _right now_.

"Can't you wait a little longer?" Pierre pleaded, "My shift is ending within a few minutes, and then we could both drink till we drop." He watched her expectantly as she considered her options. Drinking alone or sharing her misery with a good friend? The decision really wasn't that difficult. She'd always prefer good company. Thus she spoke, "Sounds like a plan."

Immediately a huge grin spread on the guard's face, but before he could state any smart remarks, Yuffie cut him off, "And no, it's _not_ a date. But yes, you _are_ paying."

She smirked at him. He grinned back, "What else would I expect of my favourite Yuffers?"

* * *

The last few hours had been…annoying. 

He had been striding aimlessly through Junon, checking out every store, every pub, every everything that somehow happened to exist in this tin can of a fortress. He had even paid a visit to his old apartment. Apparently, it was inhabited by an ambitious but dumb ShinRa employee by now, a fact he considered as mildly annoying. Neither really annoying nor not annoying. But mildly annoying.  
Yet his old apartment had only been one among many locations he had visited on his _little_ tour through Junon.  
As a matter of fact, he had been everywhere.  
_Everywhere._  
If there was still one single person in this fortress who hadn't noticed his presence yet, he'd eat a broomstick. Really. Maybe only a chocolate one, but still – he'd worked hard to make the people around him notice his presence.

Ironically, he absolutely hated being the centre of attention. But sometimes it just couldn't be avoided. For example if you had to make sure a certain puppet would find some clues and therefore be able to follow you. It had been exhausting to wander around as though you were some homeless lunatic, but it had been worth the while.  
He had accomplished everything humanly and in his case even inhumanly possible to let his pursuers know where to go. Furthermore the ship wasn't going to leave for another eighteen hours. Thus, he had a lot of time to finally lean back and relax.

While strolling through town earlier, he had discovered a comparatively nice pub in block number 29. The place had a comparatively comfortable atmosphere, but still seemed somewhat anonymous. Just the way he liked it.

And what was even better, nobody would ask strange questions. Why, you ask? Because he wasn't the ex-General Sephiroth right now, but Recruit Leon Meyer.

Once he had decided to settle down and have a beer, he had changed his appearance into that of a random male and gave his new identity an equally random name.

Yes, possessing Jenova's body definitely had its pros.

As his original form was presently residing in the Northern Crater, he had been forced to take over a body that was easier accessible. And since the reunion with his Mother was necessary to accomplish his Mission anyway, occupying her body was the most obvious choice.  
And well, even though it might be somewhat disturbing to know you are currently travelling around as a pink, tentacled something, the advantages it provided more than compensated for this little, insignificant nuisance.

After all, who else could drop an arm and 'regrow' a new one within seconds?  
Who else could 'fly', 'disappear' and 'walk through walls'?  
Who else could change his/her appearance by _simply _projecting another picture into the onlookers' heads?

Right, you get the picture. Life was a lot simpler that way. And a lot more complicated at the same time, considering he had to accomplish his Mission whilst permanently battling Jenova's will inside of his head.  
He could identify with her preferring to control her body herself. Honestly. But knowing her, he assumed she would instantly annihilate half the planet's population if given the chance. And this was something he'd favour avoiding.

He might have hoped to drown her complaints in a good mouthful of rum, but as this body wasn't even partly human, it didn't react to the alcohol at all. No big surprise there. What had he expected?

"Hey Leon, where didcha say ya'd come from?"

While he waited for his mind to return from the Realm Of More Important Matters, Sephiroth – no, it was Leon now – lazily turned his head towards the drunken redhead who had been lingering next to him for an hour already. He had no idea whether the guy had decided to keep him company due to the pub's current lack of unoccupied seats or because the persona of Leon had a somewhat…attracting effect on him. As he found himself shivering involuntarily at the latter thought, he realized he really didn't want to know the other's reasons.

"Midgar?" the redhead guessed while knocking back another beer, "Kalm?"

"Actually, I'm from Gongaga," Leon claimed with a rather reproachful frown. "And I've just told you that five minutes ago."

His drinking buddy raised an eyebrow. "Really?" he wondered as he idly watched his bottle's contents while swaying it in front of him. "Dun quite r'member," he mumbled and let his head drop onto the table, "Gotta be the alc'hol."

"How come I don't believe you that?" Leon spoke, not even bothering to hide his amusement. His companion wouldn't notice anyway.

And just as predicted, he didn't. Instead he merely turned his head counter-clockwise to send a puzzled look in his pal's direction. "What d'ya mean?"

"What do you mean, what do I mean?" Leon retorted, his eyebrows furrowed as though he was completely serious, "I meant what I said."

With a thump, a certain redhead hit the table once again. "Pleeeaase, b'ddy, dun c'nfuse m'even more, willya," he mumbled against the wood underneath him, completely oblivious to the pleased smirk on his so-called buddy's face.

Twenty minutes ago, when he had started feeling mildly annoyed by the other's never-ending monologue, Leon had invented a new game called _Tangle The Turk_. Ever since then, he had been providing his new friend with lots of paradoxical pieces of information. By now he had claimed to be a gold-digger from Midgar, a merchant from the Gold Saucer, the chief accountant of a flower shop in Kalm, the owner of a tomacco farm in the southern Wutai area and a chicory vendor from Gongaga – everything at the same time, of course.  
Furthermore, he had managed to make the poor turk believe Barret, Shinra's new president, was about to have a holiday fortress called New Junon built somewhere in the south, directly inside of the Northern Crater.

And strangely enough, Reno wouldn't even question those statements. Maybe he had really had a drink to many?  
But the word 'non-alcoholic' printed in big, bold letters on the label of the very bottle the turk was currently sipping on strictly argued against that assumption.

So just what had that man taken?

Or maybe…a behaviour like this was completely normal for him.

Not that Sephiroth, or rather Leon, really minded. Messing around with Reno was fun, he couldn't deny it.

Maybe he should transform into his true self later on, directly in front of the turk's eyes. The reaction he'd get would certainly be worth it.  
Hm, not a bad idea. He'd have to keep that in mind.

"Yo, L'on, buddy," he heard the redhead burble and turned his attention back to him, "Why don'tcha talk an'more? Yer not mad a'me or somethn, are ya?"

"Actually," Leon replied nonchalantly, choosing his words with care, "I rather enjoy your company."  
Sometimes even stating the truth could help bewildering people further.

But only sometimes.

He should have employed a much longer sentence, then there wouldn't be a turk clinging to his neck right now, babbling things like "Oh, yer such a gr8 buddy!" or "I wurv u 2!" repeatedly.

He _really_ should have employed a much longer sentence.

In moments like these, you might expect Sephiroth to be somewhat grateful that Jenova's serially included form changing program contained a tool which caused people to believe they were actually touching what they were seeing. But oddly enough, he wasn't grateful. On the contrary, he'd rather the turk actually felt he was hugging a slimy, pinkish alien. This might reveal his true identity, but at least he would finally get rid of that unnecessary physical contact. Or maybe he should just accidentally slam his bottle of rum into his _buddy's_ head? This might do, even though it couldn't be considered the funniest way of ending this little game.

Oh well.

Leon was just about to discreetly grab the bottle when he heard a voice from somewhere near the entrance.

Not just any voice, but a certain voice.

A familiar voice.

A terribly familiar voice.

And it was shouting from the pub's entrance, "Reno, stop harassing the poor guy already!"

Which meant the girl was going to stay here.

For the rest of the evening.

………

…………

…………… Damn.

End of Chapter Three

* * *

A/N: Here I am again! Admittedly a tad later than predicted, but I've got an excuse: The initially small, cute and fluffy chapter turned into a giant monster the more I wrote and it just come to an end. When it weighed already 4500 words and still wouldn't stop growing, I decided to split the chapter into two, far less enormous ones. Granted, some people don't consider 4,5k chapters as long ones, but I like it short and handy.  
Which follows, is that a) I can update the story right now and b) you won't have to wait for the next chapter very long as it is mostly finished. It only needs some final words and a bit of editing, and then it'll be up. 

Now, some further notes that aren't really a must-read, but contain some useful information:

As regards Pierre…  
Yuffie living in Junon and not having any friends is a thing of impossibility. That's why I took the elevator's guard, named him Pierre (better don't ask me why, I myself don't have a clue) and turned him into and Yuffie's companion. Which isn't that improbable as she has to use the lift every other day to leave and enter Upper Junon after/before her little heists.  
So she either keeps bribing the guard, or she befriends him.  
Obviously, I made her choose the second option, and apparently she and Pierre became quite good friends. If not a tiny little bit more...

Now to the Disguise-as-Leon-thingy…  
I don't like the idea of them simply running into each other like that:  
Yuffie: Boah, man, watch your step!  
Seph: …Likewise.  
Yuff: Hey, wait, aren't you… Sephiroth?  
Seph: Actually, I am.  
Yuff: Don'tcha recognize me?  
Seph: Indeed I do.  
Yuff: Then say something!  
Seph: Umm…sorry I didn't send you a postcard?  
And so on.  
Yeah, I guess you get the idea. Too boring, too quick, less dramatic.

Now, concerning Seph's actual disguise: as he chose a random male appearance, you can imagine him whatever way you want to. But as I ended up naming his alias Leon, you might want to consider him as some kind of black-haired clone of Squall (FF8) or rather Leon (Kingdom Hearts). It wasn't really intended but I couldn't think of another nice name that wouldn't make Seph's new appearance look weird in my imagination (just think of a Carlos or Hans sitting in Leon's place and you know what I mean).

Oh well.  
Long A/Ns are a curse, thus I'm going to suppress any further unnecessary notes and get to the important ones straight away:

Review!

As you know already, reviews are what keeps a story alive. So review! because if you review, I'll update much quicker and you will be mentioned in the next chapter along with all those of other great reviewers:

Thanks you, saharasfury, Music Lover Always, Gining, navi the rabid pixie, yuffie259 and Vermillion Dragonness! You guys are awsome!

Now, thanks for reading and reviewing, and see you all in the next chapter!

Greetings,  
Linnya


	5. Who are you?

**Like The Sun, Like The Moon**

Chapter Four

Within an instant, the girl had reached their table and peeled a drunken Reno off a rather distressed Leon, dropping her redheaded friend's groggy form carelessly on the table as she introduced herself.  
"Hello there, I'm Yuffie, and I'm really sorry if that jerk bothered you in any way." She clapped her hands in front of her and bowed in an apologetic way before sitting down on one of the last two chairs at the table, directly next to Leon.

"This is Pierre," she stated, gesturing vaguely towards the young brunette man who had just taken the remaining seat beside her. With these formalities being taken care of, she turned back to the admittedly rather intriguing black-haired stranger next to her and grinned. "So what's _your_ name?"

For quite a long moment, he was merely eyeing suspiciously. Who would have guessed the energetic little girl he had once known had become the alcohol-addicted friend of a turk?  
_Don't think that about her_, he mentally scolded himself and finally answered her question with a plain and simple "Leon."

He hadn't even finished the 'on' of his latest alias when Yuffie was already continuing her chatter. "You know, you seem somewhat familiar," she spoke at an amazing tempo, "Have we ever met before? Maybe here in Junon? Or in the forests?"

He could have answered her immediately. 'No' was technically not even a lie. She hadn't met the persona of Leon before. And he was going to tell her that. However, he was not willing to answer her straight away. If she was babbling like a waterfall, he would stammer like a brook. Simple.

Half a minute of intensive eye contact had passed when he finally decided to declare his answer.

"No."

As expected, she responded in an instant, "If we've never met before, then maybe I've seen you in the papers? Or maybe I know one of your relatives? Say, what do you do for a living? And where do you come from? C'mon, tell me!"

Leon blinked, and so did Pierre. The girl had just spoken these words without even as much as breathing. Which wasn't very healthy for either side of the table.  
But well, he'd give them lots of time to recover; since the girl had obviously just beat the records with her supernatural speech tempo, he would take as long he needed to think of a short yet honest answer to all her questions. And most likely, even a tad longer.

After only a short while, Pierre seemed to comprehend and bemusedly approve of the method Leon was using to teach the girl some proper speaking manners. Said girl, however, still showed no sign of understanding as she waited expectantly for the response she'd certainly get any moment now… would she?

When after several long minutes he still hadn't said a word, she honestly wondered what was wrong with him. He caretinly looked as though he would start speaking every moment. However, he simply _didn't_.  
Nonetheless, he didn't appear to be someone who would mock her, and besides he really didn't have a reason for that. So maybe he had problems with articulating his thoughts? A mental disease or something?

She was had just opened her mouth to discreetly ask him about this when he finally decided to respond.

"Actually…" He might have begun speaking, but he didn't particularly hurry in doing so. In fact, he was talking as slowly as possible and made just another time-consuming break before continuing, "I joined SOLDIER in Midgar after all my relatives had…expired."  
Precise and concise. Just the way he liked it. His twelve-word answer contained all the information she had demanded and he still hadn't lied to her. Indeed, Hojo was still alive somewhere, but having him as a father was like having no father at all. Thus, he didn't lie when claiming not to have any family whatsoever.

It was then that Pierre decided to officially join the party. "I'm sorry for your relatives," he said with a polite kind of sympathy, but went on in a far less formal manner, "So you're really in SOLDIER? Which class?"

Turning his attention to Yuffie's _date_, Leon smirked in his special, approving way. At least this one had understood it. Or maybe, he simply wasn't as hyperactive a person as Yuffie to begin with. Either way, he had spoken the first, moderate words the ex-general had heard in what seemed like whole centuries, thus he would be rewarded with an equally conversational answer.

"First class," Leon stated relatively casually as he leant back on his chair, "But not anymore. I left SOLDIER a while ago after a…nasty incident."  
Watching the man sitting opposite of him, he could see him flinching at the mention of an incident. Obviously, the guy knew what this could mean in a company like ShinRa Inc. Yet although tales of such occurrences tended to be as intriguing as they were disturbing, he had the courtesy not to indulge into this matter any further, a decision Sephiroth couldn't help but appreciate.

"But if you were a First Class," Pierre spoke, "then you've got to be pretty strong, right?"

Shrugging nonchalantly, Leon took a sip of his rum and answered vaguely, "I guess so."

"I wish I coulda made it to SOLDIER," the brunette guard admitted as he broke the eye contact whilst leaning back and staring pensively up at the greyish ceiling.

"If you had asked me five years ago, we could have traded," Leon answered truthfully when he, too, looked upward to simply watch Nothing In Particular.

* * *

Ever since Pierre had spoken, Yuffie had been following their conversation with increasing bewilderment. Now, that seemed to have come to some silent agreement and collectively preferred the ceiling to a conversation with her, she didn't have much of another chance but to change from Happy Fellow Mode into Raging Shinobi With Kunai Knives. Granted, she'd left her weapons at home to prevent any further Late Night Massacres – and no, she did not want to speak about it – but she was pretty mad nevertheless. 

"Just what the _hell_ is _wrong_ with you!" she yelled at no one in particular as she rose within a second, her chair causing a horrible screeching sound in the process, and glared repeatedly from Pierre to Leon and back.

While the younger and far less experienced of the two had practically jumped out of his seat and hit his head on the wall due to her little outburst, a certain ex-General hadn't even blinked in surprise. He had been expecting such a reaction, and he certainly wouldn't feign any shock whatsoever just to do her a little favour.  
Instead, he leisurely tilted his head in her direction and watched the girl with the wonderfully weary stare of his that had managed to discourage even the bravest men.  
Not that it was particularly evil or anything; it simply said 'What is it _now_!' in a nice, disparaging and completely bored way. More often than not, that alone was enough to unsettle, if not intimidate, just about everyone.

And indeed, Yuffie, albeit mad as the devil, flinched visibly and wouldn't move afterwards.

_Since when has mocking her been so much fun?_ he wondered distantly as he waited for her reaction.

Yet for a long moment, she wouldn't even as much as glimpse. Instead, she kept standing completely still. _The quiet before the storm_, Leon mused as he watched her face becoming redder and redder, _Not to be taken literally though, as it is indeed far too noisy in here_. Never left his eyes her form as he distractedly took another gulp of his rum. He didn't know just why he kept drinking. After all it didn't quite change anything. Oh well, he'd go on anyways. Old habits die hard.

_Plonk._ He hadn't expected the bottle to cause such a loud noise once placed back on the table. But considering the tension in the air, it wasn't that surprising.

_Plonk._ Apparently, Pierre had just managed to drag himself back onto his chair. And still, Yuffie looked somewhat bothered – was it fury or embarrassment? – but hadn't moved an inch. _The brownish shades of her hair and eyes contrast with her red skin nicely,_ Leon pondered with a slight smirk.

_Plonk._ Without any kind of warning, the ninja sat down on her chair as though nothing had happened.

Leon blinked. He had expected anything, but not _that_. Thus, after clearing his throat, he inquired rather carefully, "I don't mean to be rude, but…" He frowned slightly. "…just what held you back right now?"

As she returned his gaze, he her eyes narrowed dangerously. "You," she answered with an odd glare in his direction, "trigger off the strangest…memories."

He raised an eyebrow. She narrowed her eyes further.

So much for that.

Obviously she preferred avoiding this certain topic, or else Yuffie wouldn't have simply omitted any further explanation and turned to her other companion instead.  
"Hey, Pierre, you didn't hit your head again, did you?" she asked in a rather caring way as she patted his shoulder gently.

The guard started scratching the back of his head. "I'm afraid so," he responded sheepishly and frowned, "You really shouldn't do things like that, you know."

The reproachful look Pierre cast at her was enough to make just about any girl feel ashamed for her behaviour. However, although he was still watching her attentively, Leon/Sephiroth couldn't quite make out whether Yuffie was flushing or not. Indeed, it was quite likely, but her face was still far too red to allow anything blush-like to be visible.

_I wonder_, he pondered whilst wordlessly observing the fairly amicable scene between the girl and her escort, _just what these 'strangest memories' contain._ He smirked. Interrogating her might be fun. However, as entertaining as it might become, asking her about certain memories she associated with him might lead to troublesome conclusions. If she really found out his true identity – which wasn't very probable but still possible, since he hadn't really tried hard to behave like _someone else_ – he would have to deal with bothersome repercussions he'd favour avoiding.

And that is exactly why he decided against Asking Stupid Questions and in favour of Making A Quick Retreat ASAP. As to all appearances the girl was currently completely occupied with her whiny friend, this was as good a chance for a strategic withdrawal as any he was going to get this evening.

Certainly, being the attentive observer he was, he had repeatedly noticed Yuffie throwing a quick glance at him out of the corner of her eye, but as she had obviously tried to hide her interest, he had decided to tactfully ignore it.

He would simply get up and leave them be. Which was better for either of them, really. Enabling the girl a bright future by not stepping into her life again was something he was certain he would never regret. However it was a pity he couldn't realize the plans he had developed for the turk still dozing semiconsciously on the table in front of him.

_Well, one can't have everything_, he told himself with a sigh as he noiselessly rose from his chair. At least, he himself didn't make a sound. The chair was a different matter though; it screeched deafeningly and therefore attracted the attention of everyone within a radius of ten metres. Yuffie and Pierre included.

Consequently, they immediately stared up at Leon in utter surprise. Which looked rather funny, since they had just started dozing on the table. Not due to their drunkenness, no – Leon was sure they hadn't even had any alcohol so far – but rather because they seemed to be trying to see things from Reno's current point of view. In other words, they were making fun of the poor redhead. Oh well. He really couldn't blame them. Reno _was_ the perfect mockery victim after all.

Unlike the dozing turk who was completely unaware of his surroundings, both Yuffie and Pierre seemed to be rather saddened by the prospect of her companion's soon departure. In fact, they looked so disappointed that Leon almost felt sorry he wouldn't attend this little get-together any longer.

Almost.

He didn't allow that puny trace of a bad conscience to hinder him, though, as he opened his mouth to express some final words.

Yet before he had the chance, the most unlikely person to speak did just that. "Yo, L'on," Reno muttered as he lazily turned on the table to stare at his buddy reproachfully, "y'ain't leavin' 'lready, are ya?"

Tilting his head a little, the ex-SOLDIER eyed the drunken man on the table who, for some odd reason, strangely reminded him of a helpless child. And, what was even weirder, the dazed look on the redhead's face as well as the saliva dripping out of the corner of his mouth practically forced Leon to treat the turk like a nine-year-old.

Thus he couldn't help but bend down to the limp form spread on the table and tell him somewhat apologetically, "I'm afraid I must." After that, he wordlessly released the redhead from his apparently painful position on the table and placed him safely back on the chair. "I can't afford missing the next ship to Costa del Sol, and I've still got to take care of some things beforehand. Of course I would love to skip it, but my attendance is…compulsory."

For a while, the turk simply sat there pouting. "N'xt time ya'll stay l'nger, m'kay?" he finally ordered.

Patting the _child's_ head reassuringly, Leon bent forward to him and answered with a smile that totally opposed his words, "There won't be a next time, I'm afraid. It's not very likely that I'll return to Junon."

"So saaaad," Reno mumbled in utter disappointment and let his head drop to emphasize his point. And without any further delay, he dozed off once again.

Now addressing the table's remaining two occupants, Leon stated matter-of-factly, "I guess, I've really got to get going."

"And you'll really never come back?" Pierre inquired in utter disappointment.

At this, his latest companion merely shrugged. "At least it's not likely, considering…I've got a place to live way up in the north."

The young guard looked so sad that Leon couldn't help but add, "However, in case I'll ever be able to, I'll return and keep you company, okay? At least it's possible, albeit not very likely." Just why the guy seemed to have taken a fancy to him, he honestly had no clue. And just like it had been with Reno, he wasn't even sure if he wanted to know. Maybe he really should have chosen a less attractive appearance. Not that it was that much of a problem right now anyway – He was almost done here. He'd simply leave the pub and disguise as someone else.

Hence he cleared his throat and appealed to his current company one last time, "Anyway, it has been a very amusing evening with the two of you." He paused briefly as a genuine yet almost invisible smile formed on his face. "Take care of each other, and farewell."

With that, he turned and strode out of the pub without any further delay.

Leaving Reno drunken, Pierre disappointed and Yuffie wide-eyed.

Afterwards, those remaining sat in silence for several long minutes.

Until Yuffie jumped up, shouted a "Dammit!" of utter irritation and ran after him, that is.

She hadn't known him long. They hadn't even spoken much. And still, Leon reminded her so much of _him_…  
So much she almost couldn't bear it.  
But if she didn't take this chance, she would regret it for the rest of her life.  
Even if this man wasn't _her_ Sephiroth, he resembled him so much…  
So much that it felt like getting to know him all over again.  
Some sort of a second chance maybe, in a bizarre kind of way.

A second chance she was neither willing not able to miss.

No. She would not simply tolerate him leaving her behind.

Not this time.

End Of Chapter Five

* * *

A/N: It's funny just how many notes I decided to write into the A/Ns while still writing/editing the chapter, and just how many of them I have forgotten by now. Oh well, at least I won't bother you with any unnecessary ramblings :p 

I hope you liked this chapter, and I hope you'll tell me your opinion in a nice, little review!

Because reviews are great, and reviewers are even greater!

Hence, Vanya the Elven Maiden of the Valar, Gining, saharasfury, Vermillion Dragoness, Lifewish and Sonicron belong to the greatest people in the whole world, because they took some of their time to review the last chapter, which I am really grateful for. You guys are wonderful!

Nevertheless, I'll only be able to update every week or so from now on. Granted, this isn't quite as often as I'd love to, but since school has started again and is even more unnerving than it used to be before the holidays, I won't have too much time for writing anymore. Sadly.

But anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing!

Greetings,  
Linnya

Oh, and by the way, as you might have noticed, I have been naming the chapters after songs on the official FF7 OST up until now. But as some of the titles didn't seem fitting enough, I decided to break with that tradition and renamed some of the chapters.


	6. Reunion

**Like The Sun, Like The Moon**

Chapter Five

She had had a dream.

She might not have memorized much of it, but she meant to remember some strands of silver hair as well as a pair of haunting green eyes, belonging to the only person she had ever really considered a friend.

Sephiroth saving her life wasn't exactly an unusual scenario, mind you - her silver-haired hero tended to appear in just about every kind of dreamscapes her mind managed to think up.  
This honestly wasn't surprising, no.  
The strange thing about this particular dream was…

She would never have recalled it if it hadn't been for Leon.

Which confused her.

The stranger looked nothing like Sephiroth, and at the same time, he could be his clone.

Which confused her even more.

And she did certainly _not_ like being confused.

Thus, she buried these thoughts in the back of her mind and tried her best to ignore the well- yet unknown stranger sitting to her right.  
Because he confused her.

Nevertheless, she truly hadn't intended to make him leave.

She didn't even realize she was fearing his departure until she heard the screeching of his chair being pushed aside.

A sound that troubled her tremendously.

_Alarmed by the rustling of leather, a sound she dreaded every time they were sitting under their tree, Yuffie got up as well. _

"Yo, L'on," Reno muttered as he lazily turned on the table to watch his buddy reproachfully, "y'ain't leavin' 'lready, are ya?"

"_You aren't leaving already, are you?" she whined._

"I'm afraid I must." He released the redhead from his apparently painful position on the table and placed him safely back on the chair. "I can't afford missing the next ship to Costa del Sol, and I've still got to take care of some things beforehand. Of course I would love to skip it, but my attendance is…compulsory."

"_I've got to go to Nibelheim next week. Of course I would love to skip it, but Hojo insisted on my attendance."_

For a while, the turk simply sat there pouting. "N'xt time ya'll stay l'nger, m'kay?" he finally ordered.

"_Next time you'll stay longer, okay?" she demanded, glaring up at him._

Patting the _child's_ head reassuringly, Leon bent forward to the turk and answered with a smile that totally opposed his words, "There won't be a next time, I'm afraid. It's not very likely that I'll return to Junon."

"_Promised."_

Painful memories. Bewildering implications. Undeniable similarities that couldn't be a mere coincidence…

And finally, Yuffie's mind went blank.

Neither would her body move, nor would her face betray any of the countless emotions Leon's paradoxical existence had stirred up inside of her.

She was empty. She didn't know what to think anymore.

Which left her no other options but to silently watch him say goodbye.

And this only aggravated things.

She recognized the genuine yet almost invisible smile that was forming on his face. "Take care of each other, and farewell."

"_Farewell, Yuff. For your own sake, I hope we'll never meet again."_

He left.

She stayed.

"_I joined SOLDIER in Midgar after all my relatives had…expired."_

"_First class. But not anymore. I left SOLDIER a while ago after a…nasty incident."_

"_I wish I coulda made it to SOLDIER." – "If you had asked me five years ago, we could have traded."_

In just about every sentence he'd spoken, she could find lots of clues to work with.

Yet they were so obvious she didn't know what to make of them.

Leon spoke like Sephiroth. He acted like Sephiroth. But he wasn't Sephiroth. He simply couldn't be.

Nonetheless, there had to be an explanation to this; and judging by their respective pasts and their similar behaviour, an actual acquaintanceship between the two of them suddenly appeared surprisingly likely.

Of course, this was only surprising insofar as she hadn't managed to grasp this connection earlier.

Gosh! How could she not have noticed! It was so obvious!

And now, the guy was gone.

She had allowed him to simply leave for good. Him, the only person she'd ever met who would be able to tell her something about her former best friend.

Argh! When had she become so dumb!

But lamenting over her own stupidity wouldn't change her current situation one bit. She would have to take actions soon, or else she might never find him again.

That being decided, she instantly jumped off her chair, released all her anger in form of a plain yet passionate "Dammit!" and dashed off.

Leaving Reno drunk and Pierre startled.

Oh well.

She'd explain herself later on.

* * *

Junon was a great city. She loved it for its sheer enormity. It was such a huge, complex fortress that, no matter where you went, you'd always discover something you'd never noticed before, be it a new little pub, a storeroom with interesting materials or simply a hilarious poster some jester had decided to attach to the front door of a Shinra official's apartment. 

Really, thanks to its complexity Junon was a wonderful and always surprising town.

However, in times like these she honestly hated it for this certain quality. Whenever she wanted to actually find something or someone, she had to search for ages. And even then a success wasn't nearly guaranteed.

Dammit.

Leon could be everywhere. She really shouldn't have hesitated so long.

Dammit.

"Granny, have you seen a tall guy with longish hair and dark leather clothes lately?" Yuffie asked straight away as she stormed into the umpteenth shop this evening.

The salesclerk, a nice elderly woman, looked up at the girl in surprise.

"He's quite an eye-catching fellow," the ninja added hopefully.

After a while of pondering, realization dawned upon the vendor. "I believe I have met the one you are looking for," she said with a kind smile.

Yuffie's eyes widened. "Really?" Approaching the counter quickly, she gazed at the clerk in anticipation, "When? Where? And where did he go?"

"I have indeed seen him, but I am afraid I won't be able to tell you much," the woman spoke rather apologetically, "Several hours ago, he merely entered the store, took a look at a few items and left again."

Yuffie's face fell. _Shouldn't have expected anything_, she thought with a sigh of frustration and turned to leave when the vendor addressed her once again. "I am sorry for not being able to help you," she said, "but allow me to give you a small advice."

Looking back, Yuffie eyed the salesclerk expectantly, mentioning for her to continue via a raised eyebrow.

"I do not know just why you are seeking him," the elderly woman told her carefully, "But I have got the impression he can be a fairly dangerous man. Moreover, he seems to be wanted by the Shinra. So if I were you, I would think twice whether I really wanted to find him."

Yuffie blinked. "Shinra is looking for him?"

The vendor nodded. "Apparently, they are," she stated rather thoughtfully, "A while ago, some guards entered, asking for a black-caped man." She tilted her head a little as if to consider something. "But I wonder why they were describing him by his cape if his hair is a so much more striking feature."

"His hair?" Imagining Leon's black strands, which might be pretty but not exactly striking, Yuffie began to wonder whether they were really talking about the same person.

"Hmh," the vendor confirmed with another absentminded nod, "Still so young and already has he got white hair. Long, white hair, I might add."

Yuffie stared at the salesclerk in utter disbelief. If the woman had just described who she thought she had described, then…

Then…

Then her head was going to explode.

Definitely.

Mumbling a quick thanks to the salesclerk, Yuffie retreated from the shop and leant against the next wall, trying vainly to process the information she had just got.

Sephiroth, or at least someone who resembled him, was in this town.  
But he was said to be dead.  
So the one wandering through Junon could only be a look-alike.

But then again, there was Leon.  
Someone who resembled Sephiroth.  
Yet not physically, but mentally.

Which meant there were two Sephiroth-look-alikes in this town.

Which didn't make any sense whatsoever.

Which unnerved her immensely.

"Oh dammit!" she finally yelled into the night.

And it was then that she noticed something shimmering from the seaside.  
Yet, taking a closer look, she realized it wasn't originated anywhere near the beach. In fact, it seemed to be coming from the edge of Junon's airfield.  
However, it weren't the platform's floodlights, but something that wasn't supposed to be there…

Interesting.  
Definitely worth a quick inspection.  
And since she wasn't making any progress here anyway, she decided she might as well go and take a look at the source of this unusual phenomenon.

Maybe she would find some answers there…

* * *

Standing at the edge of Junon's airfield wasn't the most pleasant of all things. 

It was cold and stormy.

Oh well, this really wouldn't surprise anyone, considering the platform was situated a good hundred metres above the ground without any wall-like arrangements protecting it from blowing winds. After all, it wasn't called an _airfield_ for nothing.  
But if you felt able to tolerate cold gusts and the occasionally arriving airship, this platform depicted the probably most relaxing location in all Junon.  
Being a comparatively large city, it might be expected to offer a lot of cosy, quiet places. However, as Shinra had built it as a military base, just about every corner of it was regularly patrolled, which prevented any kind of privacy rather efficiently.

Much to Sephiroth's annoyance.  
No fifteen minutes would pass without some guard approaching him, blinding him with a flashlight and asking him stupid questions.

How bothersome.

Nonetheless, during his earlier trip through town, he had noticed the airfield was practically not secured at all. Hence he had chosen to come hither after leaving the pub more or less involuntarily due to a certain auburn-haired ninja.

With the wind and all, it wasn't exactly quiet up here, but peaceful nevertheless. No annoying people, but a lot of time to reflect on recent happenings without any disturbances. Granted, the stormy weather was somewhat exasperating and granted, the moon was shining far too brightly for his liking this evening. Yet still, this place provided a far too comforting atmosphere to really bother him.

So empty. So quiet. ANd even somewhat beautiful.

He could watch the moon's reflection on the otherwise beautifully black ocean without ever being disturbed, and furthermore he had a nice view on both Upper and Lower Junon, which wasn't also quite fascinating to stare at but also allowed him to scan the area for any chocobo-headed clones of his without much effort.  
Unfortunately, he didn't find the puppet itself. Yet he noticed the Cetra girl standing near the beach, which meant the clone had to be somewhere in the nearness as well.

Good.

So as long they weren't dumb enough not to bribe the elevator's guard and try getting to Upper Junon any other way, there wasn't much else they could fail at.

What a relief.

Because right now, Sephiroth honestly wasn't in the condition to bail them out of just another mess. Too exhausting, too frustrating.

And he already had a headache to being with.

Out of some strange reason, Jenova had increased her mental ramblings dramatically over the last few hours. Possibly, the alcohol was finally showing some effects after all. Possibly, it was Yuffie's fault. Possibly, Jenova had simply felt the clone's arrival and now insisted on telling him something. Or something.

But regardless of his Dearly Beloved Mother's reasoning, he would simply keep ignoring her. It was better this way, really.

And still… Neglecting Jenova's will was one thing. But neglecting a steadily aggravating headache was a completely different matter.

Annoying headache. Annoying throbbing.

The nauseating pain was deteriorating so quickly that he soon couldn't even distinguish anymore whether those bothersome thumps were originating _inside_ or _outside_ of his head.

It could be the migraine; it could be another nosy guard. Possibly both.

……

……… Damn.

He neatly crossed "No disturbances" out of his mental list stating the airfield's advantages and addressed the new arrival rather grumpily.

"What do you want?"

He hadn't even bothered averting his gaze from Lower Junon to look at her. Nonetheless he could practically feel her stare on his skin as she was struggling for breath after her little sprint.

"Sephiroth…" she finally uttered, still panting heavily.

Usually, he would at least feel uncomfortable in such a situation. Yet as thanks to Good Ole Jenova his mind was currently turning into a single fizzy blur, he merely frowned at the girl's statement, wondering distantly just when he had transformed into his true self again.

Raising his left hand briefly into his field of vision, he noticed he hadn't even bothered changing back. So why would the girl call him by his true name?

"You knew Sephiroth, didn't you?" she muttered, watching him hopefully.

Oh well. At least his cover wasn't totally blown yet.

"It's the way you talk, the way you act…" Yuffie went on without even waiting for his response, "You must have been around him a lot…" She looked at him, her watery eyes full of hope.

He showed no reaction; no surprise, no uneasiness, no sign of recognition – no emotions whatsoever. Without even thinking of returning her gaze, he kept staring at the moon's reflections on the sea below. Annoying headache.

Yuffie's face fell. "I really don't mean to bother you or anything…" she spoke uneasily as she decided to turn around and watch the waves as well, "and I really didn't mean to ignore you earlier." She paused briefly, unsure how to go on. "I didn't want to annoy you, it's just I thought –"

"Get to the point," he cut her off harshly. That annoying headache was already enough to deal with, and a girl struggling with a superfluous apology was something he certainly couldn't bear right now.

Obviously, his cold demeanour caught her by surprise. After gasping audibly, Yuffie needed quite a long moment to regain her composure. Yet finally, she cleared her throat and formulated her request with a certain firmness that hadn't been there before. "I have to know what happened…" She hesitated and went on at a slightly lower, sadder voice, "…five years ago." She tilted her head leftwards to watch his reaction.

And, just as expected, there wasn't much of a reaction at all. He simply stared on at that black point in the sea that had apparently been fascinating him for quite a while now.

Looking back at the sea, she sighed inaudibly.

"You shouldn't ask questions you do not want to hear the answer to."

Yuffie blinked and whirled around to stare at him with wide eyes. He might have refused to tell her anything about the events in Nibelheim, however he had just confessed he knew about them. He knew what had happened there. Consequently, the girl might never leave him alone again.

Oh well, he'd blame his headache for this stupidity. Annoying headache.

"But I _do_ want to hear the answer!" Yuffie whined in protest.

Directly into his ear.

In the shrillest voice he had ever heard her use.

He gritted his teeth. Annoying headache.

"Even if you did want to know the answer," he spoke rather indignantly, "Even if you were able to deal with it, I wouldn't tell you."

"Why not?" she inquired immediately whilst gesticulating wildly.

"Why should I?" he retorted impatiently.

"I asked first!" she pointed out stubbornly.

His right eye started twitching. Less due to her persistence than because of her shrill voice. And as the wind was blowing rather noisily today, the girl was speaking extra-loudly, which caused a never-ending beeping sound inside of his ears.

Annoying headache. Annoying tinnitus.

Oh well. If she wanted the _Why Not_, he'd give her the _Why Not_. Maybe then she'd finally shut up.

"It's dangerous," he stated simply while massaging his temple.

Yuffie blinked. "What!"

"This knowledge is going to break you," he stated matter-of-factly.

She merely stared at him in disbelief.

"Not only you," Sephiroth, or rather Leon, went on, "but anyone who gets involved with it." Was it only him or had the water surface really risen dramatically during the last minute?

No, now it was falling again.

And rising.

Falling.

Rising.

Falling.

Rising.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying hard not to lose his balance.

Annoying headache. Annoying tinnitus. Annoying vertigo.

And, what was worse, the girl standing speechlessly next to him didn't seem willing to leave anytime soon.

"What friend would I be if I didn't even know what happened to him?" she stated quietly, staring at the ground in front of her feet with a sad expression.

"A friend he cared about," Leon answered plainly, trying to sound calm although it was getting harder and harder to breathe by the second.

Annoying headache. Annoying tinnitus. Annoying vertigo. Annoying dyspnoea.

And again he had rendered the girl speechless. But by now, he really couldn't afford waiting any longer. "Please leave now," he spoke quietly. It wasn't a plea. It was an order.

"But I –" she blurted out as she quickly turned back to him – and stopped in mid-sentence when she noticed his condition: grimacing with pain, gasping for breath, chest moving violently up and down.

"Oh my god," she exclaimed in shock, "What's happening with you?"

"That's part of the story." His almost inaudible words were accompanied by a humourless chuckle, along with several fierce intakes of air. "Just leave," he hissed, "before it's too late…"

Chocking hard, he dropped down to his knees, covering his face with his hand in the vain attempt to calm down.

But he didn't have a chance anymore – he was losing today's battle, and he knew it.

"I can't just leave you here!" Yuffie protested anxiously.

She wouldn't leave him suffering… What a caring person.

"Then go fetch help or something," he whispered harshly.

The girl had to leave.

Before it was too late.

Before he lost control over this body.

Before Jenova got a chance to tear her apart.

The same way she had done it with everyone.

Including himself.

* * *

Had she caused this? 

One moment he had been standing peacefully, the next one he was almost fainting.

What was she supposed to do in such a situation?

"Please leave now," he had said and, "Just leave, before it's too late…"

But!

But!

But she wanted to help him!

She felt horrible, she felt guilty, she felt helpless.

_At least there is something I can do_, she thought bitterly as she dashed off the airfield in order to find someone who could help – She herself was totally useless in that respect. She didn't have a clue how to take care of people in need of First Aid, and in times like these, she really hated herself for this incapability.

Jumping off the platform, she found herself confronted with three different entrances she had never consciously noticed before.

"Where to go?" she mumbled in bewilderment, jogging on the spot as she tried to choose which way to take.

"_You are not going anywhere."_

Yuffie froze.

Hot air breathed against her ear. Cold steel pressed against her throat.

"_Forget and you shall live…"_

Standing completely still, she was unable to suppress a sob.

She knew that voice.

She knew that sword.

"_Remember and you shall die…"_

Out of the corner of her eye, she could make out strands of silver wavering in the wind.

Sephiroth…

So he had returned after all.

But…

What for?

To threaten her?

To kill her?

"_It is your choice…"_

What followed was a long, disturbing silence.

And then...

He removed the blade from her throat and stepped back, turning to leave.

At once, Yuffie spun around. "Wait!"

He didn't listen, didn't turn back, but walked away as though she hadn't called. As though she wasn't there at all.

"Do you even realize how long I've been waiting for this moment?" she yelled in desperate fury as she ran after him, "I've been _praying_ for you to come back, for heaven's sake!" She grabbed his shoulder to turn him around, forcing him to return her stare. "But you can't simply abandon me and then come back five damn years later, just to behave like a –"

Her voice cracked.

Those frighteningly unfamiliar, catlike orbs that were watching her blankly…

"Why are you," she whispered while shaking him weakly, "Why are you doing this to me?"

Never would he cease looking at her like that _–_ like the cruel, emotionless general he had been known as for so long…

"_Because…"_ He brushed her hands off his shoulders. _"You should never have considered me a friend in the first place."_

Her eyes widened. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but closed it soon after.

And then she slapped him.

Hard.

"You bastard!"

Her eyes were filled with tears, her face was a single grimace of anguish. "Have you come back to me –" She stared up at him, her expression a mixture of utter hopelessness and pure hatred. "– just to tell me that? Just to destroy my life _once again_?"

Many tears were streaming down her cheeks as she sobbed audibly.

"If that's what you want…" She stepped back a few paces, spreading her arms wide. "Then why don't you just stab me – right here and now?"

Silence.

"Wouldn't it make things so much easier for both of us!"

Silence.

"If you don't even dignify me with an answer," she yelled frantically, "then I'll just end it myself!"

Without any further delay, she grabbed the blade of Masamune and placed its tip on her chest.

"That's what you want, isn't it?"

"Isn't it!"

She was about to ram the sword through her heart when he abruptly drew it back, pulling her with it.

Masamune fell to the ground.

Yuffie landed in Sephiroth's arms.

He placed his hands gently on her back and drew her close.

"Whatever I said," he whispered, resting his chin on her head, "whatever I did…"

He ruefully closed his eyes.

"Please forgive me…"

End Of Chapter Five

* * *

A/N: Whew. Finally it's going somewhere ;) 

Beyond Yuff and Sephie's reunion, I wanted to show in this chapter that, although she might rarely live out her evilness openly, Jenova is someone not to be underestimated, because this little fact is going to be rather important in future chapters.

And as we are already at it - yes, Yuffie will definitely see/meet/rob Cloud again. Actually, this is going to happen rather frequetly, but it don't want to give too much away right now, so... Yes, they will meet again :)

Anyways...

Liked it? Didn't like it? 

Tell me your opinion in a review!  
Really, reviewing isn't quite as hard as it may seem, you've merely got to press the button, type in some words (favourably in an understandable order) and press the funny little "Submit" button - and voila! It's done!

Now I've got to thank all those great people who have reviewed the last chapter: Vermillion Dragoness, saharasfury, ChasingEnlightenment, Sonicron, SAMPSON12187, Joshua and KujakuValentine - You guys are adorable!

(Although I certainly wouldn't complain if it were a few more reviews next time, eheh...)

So, anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing!

Greetings,  
Linnya


	7. Not Without A Cup Of Tea

**Like The Sun, Like The Moon**

Chapter Six

_Dammit, Jenova. This time you've really done it._

Sipping a nice hot cup of tea, Leon sat in the kitchen and waited for the girl sleeping soundly next-door to finally awaken.

Which he had been doing for half an eternity now.

Oh well. He could understand her; the night before had in fact been quite a hassle.  
Jenova had managed to take over and used his appearance to mess with the girl – What exactly she had done to her, he had no idea, but it had obviously been enough to turn Yuffie suicidal.  
Which disturbed him greatly.  
He'd have to set things straight, as soon as possible.

If the girl would only wake up.

Nine hours ago, after she had been sobbing into his chest for several long minutes, she had fallen asleep in his arms. According to her keys, her apartment was located in block 28, first storey, thus he had carried her there and laid her down in her bed.

Ever since then, she had been sleeping.  
Ever since then, he had been waiting.  
And ever since then, he had been wondering just how she managed to stay asleep with all the noise coming from outside.  
At first, it had only been the sounds of drunken men yelling through the streets. But at about seven o'clock, a tune of wonderfully deafening military marches had started playing in its never-ending monotony.  
Now it was nine. The music was slowly driving him crazy, and the girl was still snoozing happily.

Oh well, he could wait.  
The ship to Costa del Sol was planned to leave at noon, so he had three hours left. But who knew when the girl would decide to wake up?  
He took another bored look at the clock hanging above the stove and realized that only five minutes had passed since the last time he had checked. Sighing, he took yesterday's Junon Times from the table and leafed through it. No interesting news, but an amusing arrangement of articles and advertisement.  
_At least some people know to appreciate my work_, he told himself with a slight smirk while skimming through the editorial that accompanied a picture of president Shinra and an ad presenting "Swords by Brick – break even the thickest shells!"  
Lovely. Yet besides this, the newspaper didn't have much entertainment to offer – and still had he read the whole issue at least trice when he eventually heard some shuffling from the bedroom.

_So the princess has finally awoken from her slumber_, he mused whilst idly turning the page.

"Leon?" she asked in sleepy surprise, "What are you doing here?"

He looked up to see her standing in the doorway, rubbing her eyes and yawning all the while.  
"I owe you an apology," he stated straight away.

She tilted her head to the side. "What for?"

"You might want to fully wake up before we discuss that matter," he told her and nodded towards the stove. "Do you want some tea?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Black tea?"

"Naturally."

A sleepy yet appreciative grin crept onto her face. "Good taste," she remarked and dragged herself towards the stove. Once she had poured some tea into a cup, she sat down on the table's remaining chair and took a few sips, eyeing her guest curiously all the while.

"Isn't that yesterday's issue?" she asked after a minute, looking oddly at the newspaper he was currently studying.

"Actually it is," he answered matter-of-factly, never averting his gaze from the article.

When he didn't add anything, Yuffie couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Actually," she replied, imitating his detached tone, "I need some help with the crossword."

Now this caught his attention. Looking up at her, he raised an eyebrow and allowed her to snatch the newspaper from his grip.

"Normally they aren't that hard, but yesterday's really freaked me out," she told him conversationally as she opened the daily on page 17 and spread it on the table, pointing at the upper, left corner of the huge crossword puzzle. "Just look at this," she said and read, "'Word with three letters'. How am I – how is anyone supposed to know this?"

"It's 'ace'," Leon answered without hesitation.

Yuffie looked up from the newspaper to cast a doubtful look at him. "But it could also be 'jig' or 'saw' or 'eye' or 'leg'," she protested.

"However, this time it is 'ace'," he assured her, "Believe me."

"How would you know?" she asked him sceptically, "You haven't even taken a look at it."

"In fact I have," he confessed with a shrug, remembering exactly just _how many looks_ he had taken at it during the last thirty minutes. 182. Boredom and the absence of anything else to do had forced him to.

"But there is nothing written in it," the girl pointed out.

Leon looked at her as though she had grown another head. "I _don't_ write comments in other people's newspapers," he informed her, sounding rather disturbed at the idea.

Now it was Yuffie's turn to look at him as though he had grown another head. "You haven't done this crossword _without_ taking any notes, have you?" she inquired, sounding rather disturbed herself.

"Umm…no?"

Again she couldn't help but roll her eyes and returned to studying her recent dilemma that was resting peacefully on the table.  
"So tell me…" she demanded as she grabbed the pen that was lying nearby to scribble 'ace' into the boxes, "who is Shinra's head of the Urban Development Department?"  
"Reeve."  
She wrote down the answer and went on, "Deadly, snake-like creature?"  
"Midgar Zolom."  
"Renowned scientist?"  
"Gast."  
"Lively succulent?"  
"Cactuar."  
"Support materia?"  
"All."

Suddenly, she hesitated and looked up at him. "Yesterday I lost my All materia in the woods," she told him in a rather depressed manner, "You haven't accidentally found it somewhere?"

Not making much of a fuss about it, he removed the white orb from his Gold Armlet and put it on the table. "It took it."

Yuffie gaped, her gaze shifting from her lost materia to her mystifying visitor and back. "You _took_ it?" she finally mumbled, her disbelieving stare momentarily darting back at Leon, "As in you _stole_ it?"

He shrugged. "We both don't need it, so what's the difference?"

Yuffie stared at him in shock. "'_We both don't need it'_," she snarled irritably, "**Of course** I need it!"

Leaning comfortably back on his chair, Leon smirked at her smugly. "Someone's got a materia fetish, huh?"

"Just what would you know!" she snapped and sent him the evillest glare she could muster.

Which in his opinion wasn't evil at all, but rather somewhat cute. In fact she looked so much like a little puppy in the vain attempt to appear terrifying that he felt tempted to pat her on the head. But no, not now. Mocking Yuffie might be a very entertaining business, but it would only infuriate her further, delaying this whole affair unnecessarily. And at least the latter, he'd prefer avoiding. Thus he finally decided to restrain himself and get to the point as soon as possible.

"Alright, alright."

He raised his hands in a pacifying manner and explained himself, "You see, I merely took your All in order to keep you from mistaking yesterday afternoon's events for a dream."  
_Not exactly the truth, but nevertheless a good point to start_, he mused whilst watching the girl's reaction carefully

She hesitated, but eventually whispered hoarsely, "It wasn't a dream?"

"Of course it wasn't," he informed her in the usual, nonchalant tone of his, "You were defending yourself against a blue bird when I discovered you, but fainted once I had taken care of it."

Eyes widening in recognition, eyebrows furrowing in confusion, forehead wrinkling in disbelief, mouth opening and closing in silent protest.  
Normally, he would have considered that expression as amusing. However not this time. He might like to annoy the girl, yet he certainly wasn't enough of a sadist to enjoy unsettling her like this.

"But if that dream wasn't a dream at all," she finally objected in a rather weak voice, staring at him helplessly, "then why did I see Sephiroth?"

He sighed. "Come on, Yuffie, it cannot be that hard to realize", he spoke somewhat indignantly as he leant a bit forward to demand her full attention. "You met him yesterday afternoon, you encountered him last night. I'm sure you have heard the rumours, and you must have noticed the similarities between Sephiroth and me, otherwise you would not have followed me to the airfield." He paused and looked at her meaningfully. "So what can we deduce from that?"

Although the mention of the night's events caused her to flinch visibly, she didn't even bother responding, but kept eyeing him expectantly.

Thus he simply went on explaining all the distinctive clues the girl simply couldn't have missed. "As you already know, Sephiroth has been supposed to be dead for five years. Nonetheless, he obviously appeared in Junon just yesterday. This either means that this one is an impostor or that he has never been dead in the first place. Which one of them is the truth, you can figure out yourself, but either way the huge, green neon signs are unmistakably pointing at me."

"Just what are you trying to tell me?" Yuffie asked with a deep frown, growing more and more frustrated by the second.

At this, Leon sighed and leant back on his chair again. "It's simple," he informed her matter-of-factly, "I _am_ Sephiroth."

Instantly her eyes narrowed. "I can see that," she retorted, her guarded stare full of scepticism.

"I know you can," he responded in the low smooth baritone that was his original voice, not his camouflage's. And all of a sudden, it wasn't Leon anymore, but Sephiroth sitting in the chair next to Yuffie.

Immediately, the girl's eyes widened to a dangerous degree, whereas her jaw dropped several storeys downwards.

"It's such a relief to witness your glee at having me back," he remarked dryly before retransforming into 'Leon'. He couldn't risk being found here after all.

Meanwhile Yuffie had started staring blankly at his right shoulder while mumbling barely comprehensible words that lacked any connection whatsoever.  
For a moment, Sephiroth/Leon tried to get the message behind "But…why…how…you…possible…yesterday…that…back…never…", but he soon gave up these vain attempts in order to continue his speech.  
"As you are already mentioning yesterday," he began in an extra loud volume to regain her attention, "This is the reason I am still here."

She looked up, and finally their eyes met. However, he didn't like the haziness he was facing one bit. He might be considered detached and emotionless, but her cloudy stare was making him feel annoyingly guilty. And he despised feeling guilty. This meant he had to spirit her bewilderment away as soon as possible, and he was about to just to that.

"Concerning what I said and did last night," he told her in the kindest way he could muster despite his usually cold demeanour, "I want you to know I did not mean it. I am sorry."

By now her eyes were glassy, yet she still managed to suppress her tears. "Then why did you act this way in the first place?" she asked quietly, eventually averting her gaze from his.

He heaved a sigh while considering his options. He could either tell her the truth or he could think up some excuse. However both alternatives didn't seem very appealing, thus he spontaneously decided in favour of the golden mean, "I'm schizophrenic."

Yuffie gasped, the sad expression leaving her face within seconds in order to be replaced by a grimace of utter disbelief.

"Oh come on, don't look so surprised," he told her with a slight frown as he leisurely stretched on his chair, "Being virtually dead for five years is more than likely to disarrange people's mind a bit, isn't it?"

Finally Yuffie regained her voice. "But you can't be schizophrenic," she contradicted doubtfully, "Or else you wouldn't recognize, let alone admit it."

"You've got a point there," he confessed with a light chuckle, "but that still doesn't explain the split personality, you know."

And again, it was Yuffie's turn to gape incredulously. "Split personality?" she coughed in shock.

He simply nodded. "I don't know about you," he told her in an uncharacteristically casual way, "but frankly, my dear, I don't even remember just what I did to you last night. I only know that it must have been something awful, or else you would not have reacted the way you did."

"You…don't remember anything?" she inquired hoarsely.

"Not quite," he answered with a shrug.

There was a long silence between them.

Yuffie was frowning, Sephie was watching.

"I really don't know what to make of all this," she finally exclaimed in frustration, sounding exactly as lost as she felt, "First you come to Junon to stir up all those old memories, then you tell me that you really are Sephiroth – which I'm still unsure about – and now you're telling me you're a madman with a split personality and don't even remember last night." She looked at him helplessly. "You don't really expect me to believe all this, do you?"

"No, I don't expect you to," he assured her with an intentionally misplaced smile, "And I don't mind either. However, I owed you an explanation. Or rather an apology, whichever way you want to put it." With that, he suddenly got up. "I didn't want yesterday's events to disturb you too much, therefore I felt obliged to clarify some things. But now that this is settled, I ought to take my leave." Nodding his goodbye rather than directly voicing it, he strode to the door in few graceful paces, only to be stopped by Yuffie's sudden yell.

"Don't you dare leaving already!" she snapped, "You've brought up more question than you answered!" She glared after him and only went on when he returned her stare, "You haven't really told me what happened five years ago. You haven't told me how and why you are here. And beyond that, you haven't even told me how the heck you can transform into someone else!"

She glared warily, he grinned wearily.

"If you really insist upon knowing it," he began with a sigh before adapting her once again phenomenal speech speed, "I burnt a town and was, let's say, killed in the process. Yet thanks to Shinra's cover-up policy, this little occurrence didn't quite stain my reputation. That's why I've come back – to completely ruin it once and for all. Just ask the puppet and you will know what I mean. Last but not least, about my magnificent form-changing abilities – they come with the second personality. However I advise you not to try this at home, as it has got some nasty side effects." Glancing briefly at the clock, he went on without delay, "Now if you excuse me, I've really got to leave." He formally bowed to her and once again turned to go.

"Oh, and by the way," he added quickly and looked back at her one last time, "If I were you, I wouldn't try following me."

And then he was gone, not even giving her a chance to protest.

Of course Yuffie stormed after him. However she simply couldn't to find him anymore. It was as though he had vanished into thin air. Which he probably had, considering he might run around as just about anyone else but Sephirth or Leon right now.

_If he doesn't want to be found, there is nothing I can do about it_, Yuffie had to admit as she plopped back into her chair after twenty minutes of fruitless searching, _It's so unfair…_

The impact of her rather forceful sitting down had caused the table in front of her to tremble, which drew her attention to the white orb that suddenly started rolling around on top of yesterday's Junon Times.

And this was enough to confirm the decision she had already made the evening before.

She had to follow him.

She couldn't allow him to leave her like that, after all this controversial pseudo-information he had given her.

And in any case, stolen was stolen. He couldn't simply return the materia. She would have to give him back her All, and that was all the "logical" reason she needed to simply jump up, grab the most necessary items and leave for the port.

If he had really meant for her not to follow him, he shouldn't have been careless enough to tell her where he was headed to.

Really.

End Of Chapter Six

* * *

A/N: I really wish I could have updated earlier, but Real Life kept interfering in the most annoying ways. But let's not get into details about this right now… _coughs_

Now some explanations regarding this chapter: Do you know those situations, when you feel compelled to explain yourself or someone asks you unpleasant questions and you simply can't get yourself to tell the truth, because you belief omitting/changing some facts about it is so much easier for both of you? (phew, what a long sentence…) Anyway, just to prevent some confusion beforehand, this is what happened here. Because Jenova has more or less traumatized Yuffie, Seph feels obliged to set her at ease somehow. But I guess you can imagine that justifying himself isn't exactly one of his hobbies, so he happens to prefer declaring himself schizophrenic to telling her the truth about Jenova, which is also why he acted the way he did by the end of this chapter.

But in any case, this little issue is going to be treated in the next chapter anyway, I only wanted you not to be too disturbed with the idea. :p

So how did you like the chapter? Tell me your opinion in a review!  
Because reviews are great, and the people reviewing are even greater! But what's greatest are LOTS of people reviewing!

I'm still amazed at the eleven reviews I've got since the last time I posted – Thanks to Music Lover Always, saharasfury, Sonicron, Chasing Enlightenment, Jillato, Myotis, Tavon Jackson, Choatic Rei, chibified kitsunes and SAMPSON12187! You guys are incredible!

So keep the reviews coming! I'll be trying to update ASAP.

Greetings,  
Linnya


	8. Over The Sea

**Like The Sun, Like The Moon**

Chapter Seven

He yawned.

And then…

He yawned again.

Endless boredom and an eternal fatigue were definitely not a good combination. At least not if you were a human spirit possessing an alien body that would run amok once you ever lost control over it, that is.

Thanks to Jenova's unique physique Sephiroth technically didn't need any sleep at all anymore. However, his mind was still used to a few hours of rest every day, which caused him to yawn repeatedly although he wasn't really tired.

Weird.

But he would acclimatize to it sooner or later. He had to – or else…

Scanning the lower deck in utter boredom, he wondered distantly what crimes Jenova might commit once let loose.

There were several crates standing all over the place in a rather inefficient arrangement. He guessed there had to be some useful goods inside, yet Jenova probably wouldn't even bother noticing them – crates weren't the most responsive of all victims. She liked making people suffer, not boxes.

Speaking of which, an amusing number of stowaways was currently lingering all over the lower deck. In fact, there were more people travelling illegally on this ship than those who didn't – he had to know, after all he had been observing all passengers thoroughly for at least two hours now.

Considering he had led the high society onto the ferry personally – in the disguise of a loyal servant, of course – he could be certain that Rufus as well as Heidegger were on board. Beyond that, he had made out two guards patrolling the decks and reckoned with another two of them he hadn't noticed yet.

This made a total of six people for ShinRa, whereas the number of the stowaways seemed to be increasing steadily. At first, he had only seen two of them – the puppet and the Cetra – but as the journey progressed, just about every member of avalanche seemed to drop by and talk to one of the others. And sometimes, they would even talk to him.

Speaking of the devil, the puppet was currently approaching him. Again.  
Sephiroth, still in the red disguise of a ShinRa officer, sighed inaudibly and began glaring at the blond whose name he still couldn't and probably wouldn't ever remember. "Go back to work!" he barked in feigned annoyance. He didn't even bother trying to sound convincing in his anger. Nonetheless, the clone turned on his heels and was gone as soon as he had come.

Sighing once again, Sephiroth leant back against the crate behind him. Playing the role of an officer was actually rather exhausting, especially since those Avalanche guys kept coming to him and asking for information they didn't even expect him to provide.

Speaking of the devil, the puppet was currently approaching him. Again.  
Sephiroth, still in the red disguise of a ShinRa officer, sighed inaudibly and began glaring at the blond whose name he couldn't and probably wouldn't ever remember. "Go back to work!" he barked in feigned annoyance. He didn't even bother trying to sound convincing in his anger. Nonetheless, the clone turned on his heels and was gone as soon as he had come.

Oh yes. Playing the role of an insignificant NPC was annoying. Granted, barking the same sentence again and again was just about the easiest task possible – and at the same time, it was the most difficult one.

If he made the tiniest mistake – be it a slightly differing choice of words, a yawn timed badly or simply a movement he hadn't done before – Avalanche might suspect he wasn't the useless NPC he claimed to be. And then they would pester him till the end of time.

Speaking of the devil, someone was currently approaching him. Again.  
Sephiroth, still in the red disguise of a ShinRa officer, sighed inaudibly and began glaring at the offender whose name he didn't and wouldn't ever know. "Go back to work!" he barked in feigned annoyance. He didn't even bother trying to sound convincing in his anger.

And strangely enough, the person standing in front of him _didn't_ turn on his heels and go.

He blinked and took a closer look at said person, who appeared to be a surprisingly short, elderly sailor, supposedly in his sixties. However, only his remarkably wrinkled face suggested this age – the rest of his body seemed rather bizarre. He wore a white uniform that was undoubtedly too large for his size; even his hat was too wide for him. But although the majority of his hair happened to be hidden underneath the white headpiece, a few tangled strands of a weirdly violet colour were clearly visible – and what as even stranger, they were long enough to fall onto his shoulders, leading to another, startling phenomenon: The part of the sailor's arms that was left uncovered by the uniform looked as though he was suffering from a nasty skin disease, whereas his hands seemed absolutely fine. In fact, his fingers were so delicate and feminine that they didn't match the image of an old man at all.

_Odd_, he told himself with a mental smirk as he kept glaring at the man, waiting for him to start speaking. Another moment later, the bizarre figure in front of him finally opened his mouth in order to say something. "Go back to work!" Sephiroth barked dutifully. After all, he had a reputation to maintain – that of an annoying NPC. And annoying NPCs tended to cut you off even before you started speaking. It was bothersome, but an effective way to keep his disguise intact.

Just as expected, the stranger's eyes narrowed immediately. "Do not be fresh, young man," he retorted in a voice that was as weird as his whole appearance. He sounded old, yet young. Tired, yet energetic. Ill, yet healthy.

_Odd_, Sephiroth told himself with a mental smirk as he kept glaring at the man, waiting for him to continue speaking. Another moment later, the bizarre figure in front of him finally opened his mouth in order to say something. "Go back to work!" Sephiroth barked dutifully. After all, he had a reputation to maintain – that of an annoying NPC.

The stranger grunted in annoyance and glared at the officer.

He glared back – the same way he had been glaring for hours now.

They kept staring at each other for a while. Yet eventually, the stranger forfeited and released his annoyance in a loud groan. "You are in charge of the lower deck, are you not?" he inquired in a now somewhat patient manner.

"Go back to work!" Sephiroth barked dutifully. After all, he had a reputation to maintain – that of an annoying NPC.

The stranger sighed and went on, "Obviously, you are."

"Go back to work!" Sephiroth barked dutifully.

The stranger heaved another sigh and stepped around the officer in order to lean against the crate next to him. "You are a stubborn one, are you not?" he asked in the vain attempt to strike up a conversation.

Obeying the rules of the guild of annoying NPCs, Sephiroth spun around to face the stranger directly, glared at him and barked once again, "Go back to work!"

The old sailor rolled his eyes. They mirrored the same discrepancy Sephiroth had noticed on the remaining features of the man: Old, yet young. Tired, yet energetic. Ill, yet healthy.

"I happen to have become a bit travelsick," the stranger went on with a rather suspect kind of patience, as he was watching the officer out of the corner of his eyes, "You do not accidentally possess a Tranquilizer, do you?"

"Go back to work!" Sephiroth barked dutifully.

"So you don't," the sailor concluded with a sigh. "Apparently, nobody does."

"Go back to work!" Sephiroth barked dutifully.

"But at least allow me to stay here," the stranger demanded rather good-naturedly, "Around you I do not feel as sick anymore."

"Go back to work!" Sephiroth barked dutifully. Yet he had already realized he was not going to be let alone anytime soon, causing him to sigh inwardly. This was going to be a longer day than he had presumed.

"I take it you do not mind," the stranger spoke conversationally and made himself comfortable by sitting down against the crate.

"Go back to work!" Sephiroth barked dutifully. When he only received a weirdly grateful smile but no real response from the sailor, he turned back to face the main hall.

Suddenly, his inner alarm clock rang.

Not because there were any dangers nearby, no – It simply reminded him that the ten minute interval had passed: it was time to release the yawn he had been suppressing for quite a while now, and he executed it rather thankfully.

Unfortunately Cloud, lingering on a crate nearby, took it as a sign and approached the fake officer once again. "Are you tired?" the blond asked curiously even before the man in front of him had a chance to cite his sentence, "I thought NPCs don't get tired?"

Sephiroth glared at him, and this time he actually meant it. It wasn't a nice experience to find the body you inhabited mocking you for your need of sleep to begin with. But finding the puppet – your own clone! – making fun of you was simply humiliating. "Go back to work!" he barked dutifully, only barely able to keep the annoyance he was showing at an adequate level.

Cloud nodded and turned to go.

And he would have gone. If he hadn't noticed the tiny man sitting at the crate, watching the NPC officer intently.

Intrigued by the sudden appearance of this strange character, Cloud approached the sailor and addressed him straight away, "Since when have you been here?" He quickly glanced towards the back of the hall before turning back to the elderly man continuing, "Haven't you been somewhere back there before?" He pointed vaguely at some crates situated near the stairs.

"Urrrgh… This is why… I hate ships," the old man mumbled and gazed up at the blond, looking rather ill. "Hey, boy. You have any 'Tranquilizers'?"

Disappointed, Cloud answered with a simple "Nope."

"…unless it is an emergency get away from me…" the sailor mumbled and allowed his head to drop again.

For several long minutes, the ex-SOLDIER kept standing next to them, pouting. "How come you have moved away if you still say the same?" he exclaimed in frustration and left.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sephiroth could see the puppet confronting the Cetra girl about his current problem. She frowned at the blond's passionate words and eventually approached the two NPCs.

"I saw the two of you interacting a while ago," she stated matter-of-factly, "Which means, that at least one of you –"

"Go back to work!" Sephiroth barked dutifully.

Aeris frowned at him and continued a little less firmly, "…has got to be a real person." For a long moment, she eyed both the supposed NPCs, observing their appearances and actions warily.

Obviously, the barked "Go back to work!" had become some weird kind of a new reflex for him – Sephiroth didn't even realize he was hollering it as he was concentrating on the noises coming from the person sitting in a crouched position next to him. Not willing to blow his cover, he couldn't turn around to watch the sailor directly, but the sounds he perceived were convincing enough: Everything about the old man might be a lie, but not the fact that he was indeed travelsick. And his illness seemed to be deteriorating steadily.

However, although the two members of Avalanche seemed to be studying both fake NPCs thoroughly, they didn't seem to notice the sailor's poor health; they rather began to suspect he was simply pretending to be sick.

It was then that Aeris finally made a decision; stepping towards the elderly sailor, she crouched down in front of him and started staring him down. "Why do you pretend being an NPC?" she interrogated the man in utter confusion.

Yet as she still failed to acknowledge the sailor choking repeatedly, Sephiroth couldn't help but sigh. "Why _don't_ you?" he asked her in a low whisper.

Immediately Aeris jumped up, staring after him wide-eyed, as he calmly made his way towards the medicine chest, which, as he had discovered during his earlier observation of the place, was located only a few metres away, near the passageway leading to the second storage room. He didn't take long to find what he needed and unhurriedly returned to the Avalanchers still gaping at him. "I mean, if you insist on dodging the fare," he told them while wordlessly offering some tranquilizer as well as a discreetly brown paper bag to the old sailor, "you might at least try not to be discovered."

Gratefully, the aged man took and used the items given to him, causing Aeris as well as Cloud to pale as they unintentionally watched him vomiting.

For a while Sephiroth simply studied their bewildered and therefore strangely fascinating expressions, yet when he realized nobody was about to start speaking anytime soon, he decided to break the silence himself. "You should go outside and watch the sea," he suggested as he turned his head to watch the sailor, "It's supposed to work rather well against motion sickness."

The old man looked up at him and chuckled resignedly. "Your concern honours me, lad," he spoke in a somewhat stained voice, "but frankly, I am not fond of exiting this ship before it arrives at Costal del Sol."

Sephiroth arched an eyebrow. "Whatever you say," he commented dryly before turning to the remaining two participants of this little conversation. "I don't mean to be rude," he stated after studying them for another minute of utter silence, "but unless you've got anything to say, I'd rather you left so we could resume our work."

"Work?" Cloud blurted out, "Standing around and playing NPC? That's what you call working?"

Feeling a tiny little bit offended, Sephiroth frowned at the blond's statement, but quite luckily, Aeris answered before him. "Cloud, don't be so impolite," she lectured her bodyguard, "I believe playing a convincing NPC must be quite a tough think to do."

"I agree," Sephiroth remarked, stifling a yawn.

"Me too," the sailor piped up in a much less ill manner than a mere five minutes before, "Citing the same lines over and over again can be quite distressing."

The appreciative smile Aeris was sending them suggested she actually _knew_ the efforts connected to playing NPC from her own experience, which raised some interesting questions indeed. However, Sepiroth wasn't granted a chance to ask them when the flower girl resumed chattering conversationally. "It might be hard," she told them frankly, "Still I wish I had had that idea, as well. Although…" Pondering, she tilted her head to the side and eventually concluded with a wink at Sephiroth, "…I doubt I could have kept yawning every ten minutes."

He arched an eyebrow.

"You were quite convincing, you know," she added good-naturedly.

"I hadn't thought anyone would actually check the intervals," he replied in a rather indifferent manner.

"Oh, I hadn't planned to, either," the Cetra admitted with that cheerful smile that seemed to never ever leave her face, "But you are quite a fascinating fellow to look at, you know." She grinned at him. "I couldn't stop watching."

While he was deliberately ignoring the loud cough coming from the sailor, Sephiroth frowned at the girl. She wasn't really flirting with him, was she? Next to her, he could see the puppet grimacing faintly, when Aeris unexpectedly whirled around to scold her bodyguard once again. "Geez, Cloud!" she exclaimed in utter disapproval as she gestured towards the old sailor, "Even the _he_ is more jealous than you! And I thought you wanted that date with me!"

The dumbstruck expression on the clone's face was priceless. Really. However, Sephiroth wasn't granted the chance to savour it as the Cetra soon turned back to him, the ever-present smile still plastered on her face. "So anyway," she began anew, "What has convinced the two of you to journey with ShinRa Travels on this wonderfully sunny day?"

After pondering just what might be the best answer, Sephiroth decided to let the sailor do the work when he heard the man clearing his throat.

"I am certain you can understand that we would feel a lot more secure if we knew your objectives _before_ telling you about ours," the elder spoke wisely, earning an almost approving glance by Sephiroth.

Aeris, on the other hand, tensed visibly and cast a hesitant glance at Cloud.

His face had darkened dramatically. Nonetheless, the ex-SOLDIER decided to humour the two fake NPCs. Maybe he'd even be able to recruit them for their little gang? Thus, he cleared his throat and spoke meaningfully, "Sephiroth."

The sailor frowned in confusion, whereas his travel companion merely tilted his head a bit.

Cloud sighed. "He has been doing horrible things," he explained gloomily, apparently unsure how to express his thoughts, "That's why we are following him – we want to know why he's doing this…" He hesitated and stole a quick glance at Aeris before going on at a somewhat lower voice, "And we want to stop him, no matter how."

As he felt the piercing gaze of the sailor at his neck, the officer tilted his head again and returned Cloud's meaningful look. "Sephiroth…" he muttered, pretending to be deep in thought, "Wasn't that one of those guys with ShinRa?"

The blond nodded. "Actually, he's the former general."

After pondering for another moment, Sephiroth asked fake-unknowingly, "But isn't he supposed to be dead?"

Once again, the ex-SOLDIER nodded. "He is," Cloud confirmed earnestly, "But not anymore. He's come back, and he is even more evil now…"

Casting the sailor next to him a meaningful glance out of the corner of his eye, Sephiroth continued interrogating his favourite clone, "What do you mean with evil?"

Cloud shifted on his feet. "He has killed lots of people, he burnt my hometown," he mumbled quietly, "And he's up to something dreadful, I'm sure of it."

Sephiroth nodded in understanding when he suddenly heard some gurgling from beside him. Turning around, he discovered with a sigh that the sailor's condition was indeed aggravating again.  
How bothersome.

"I hope you don't mind us leaving you for a second," he told the two Avalanchers with a tiny hint of apology in his voice, "But _gramps_ could really do with some fresh air." With that, he unceremoniously loaded the sailor onto his arms and walked towards the stairs, "We'll be back in a while."

And then he was gone, leaving Aeris and Cloud in utter surprise.

"What was that?" he asked her, scratching the back of his head.

"I believe they know more about this matter than they let on," she answered in slight confusion, "But that man really seemed ill." With that, she sighed and sat down on a crate nearby. "We should let them sort things out by themselves. Until then…" She grinned. "Why don't you teach me how to juggle with materia?"

For a moment, Cloud looked at her in bewilderment.  
Yet once his surprise had subsided a few seconds later, his face lit up. "How did you know I'm a pro at this?" he inquired surprisingly enthusiastically as he took a few colourful orbs out of his bracelet while sitting down next to her.

"I've seen you juggling earlier," she answered with a sweet smile, "Can you show me how to do it?"

"You need to practice a lot, but beyond that it's not even that hard," he told her with the brightest beam she had ever seen on him as he arranged three pieces of materia in his hands. "The key is to have the right timing," he said as he threw the first orb into the air, then the second one, and finally the third one, and suddenly there was only a blur of yellow, red and green soaring through the air.

"It's awesome," Aeris spoke in genuine amazement, when suddenly a fire materia flew over her head, missing her only by a hair's breadth. Shocked, she stared at the offender.

"…and the second thing you need to remember is to contain the force you're using," Cloud informed her sheepishly as he went to retrieve the materia.

Watching his somewhat clumsy actions, Aeris couldn't help but shake her head.

And yet, she was smiling.

* * *

Meanwhile Sephiroth had carried the elderly sailor to the upped deck and placed him safely near the railing.

"You could have warned me, you know," the man mumbled shakily as he crouched, clinging to the railing as if his life depended on it – which it probably did.

Ignoring his companion's obvious fear completely, Sephiroth stated in his favourite, matter-of-fact tone, "Look at the sea and you'll get better." He nodded towards the cerulean ocean and added wryly, "Even without any further drugs."

Caught red-handed, the sailor grumpily stuffed the remaining Tranquilizer back into his pocket and complied with the fake officer's orders by staring at the sea, even though he was obviously not very fond of the idea.

"You know," Sephiroth informed him conversationally as he rested his forearms on the railing to watch scenery as well, "Getting rid of that hilarious disguise of yours might help improving your condition quite a lot." Watching the sailor out of the corner of his eye, he could see him flinching. Probably, he would be able to determine a blush as well if it wasn't for the mask the 'man' was wearing, but he couldn't be sure about that. What he was sure about, however, was the fact that the person crouching next to him was neither old, nor a man, but ironically the complete opposite.

"Since when have you known?" the 'sailor' asked once his shock had subsided.

"You should have clad yourself more carefully," he replied without really answering, "Your hands look far too young and your wig seems simply…" He glanced at the tangled, violet _somethings_ poking out of 'his' hat. "…inappropriate."

Silence.

Sephiroth was already wondering whether he had insulted his companion, when the sailor suddenly began to laugh. Loudly, shrilly and in a voice that didn't match his appearance whatsoever. "Normally, my disguises are much more qualitative," he, or rather she, claimed in a surprisingly good mood as she took off her hat and removed the wig, "But this time I've really had no time for any real preparations, you see." Then she pulled the mask off her face, revealing the flawless features of a sixteen year old Wutainese girl. "Wow, this feels great!" she exclaimed happily as she got up and leaned over the railing to enjoy the chilly sea air. "This mask really got on my nerves. Good thing I finally got rid of it."

"And you aren't motion sick anymore, either," Sephiroth added with a wry smirk.

"Let's hope it'll last till the ship arrives," she said as she busied herself with peeling the fake skin off her arms.

While watching her rather nauseating yet mesmerizing action, Sephiroth began to wonder, "What was the disguise meant for in the first place?" He paused briefly. "I doubt anyone would have recognized you if you had omitted the mask."

"Dunno," Yuffie simply answered, never averting her gaze from her arms, "I guess I just felt like it."

"Ah." With that, he left the girl to her work and turned back to watching the sea.

For a long while, the roll of the water and a faint scratching were the only sounds to be heard, establishing a somewhat weird but pleasant atmosphere.

Then the scratching died away.

Finally disposed of her disguise, Yuffie leaned next to Sephiroth against the railing, positioning herself in a fashion that resembled his current pose, as she, too, resumed watching the soothing sight the ocean provided.

Another minute of utter silence passed.

"Evil, huh?"

Sephiroth arched an impassionate eyebrow. Glancing rightwards, he noticed her watching him intently until she turned her head back towards the sea and went on in a rather earnest manner, "Did you ask them these questions to show me that you've really become such a terribly bad guy? Someone I shouldn't get involved with?"

It wasn't really a question, so Sephiroth left it unanswered.

"You want me to stay out of your business," she went on quietly, "That's why you are telling me those things, isn't it?"

No answer. He simply kept watching the waves below as he waited for her to continue.

"But, you know, telling me you're cruel and crazy and whatnot won't keep me away from you – it never has," she spoke and smiled at the memories, "It actually makes me want to know more about what's going on with you." Still holding on to the railing, she leaned back to stare at the sky. "And that means, I don't have much of another choice but to follow you around wherever you go."

Finally, Sephiroth showed a reaction; he tilted his head to the side. "Odd."

Taken by surprise, Yuffie frowned at him and inquired, "What's odd?"

"I have never seen it from that point of view, although it is so obvious," he admitted in a rather dispassionate voice as he returned her frown and shrugged, "I seem to be getting forgetful in my old age."

Yuffie's eyes widened. He was actually _joking _around her – not the run-of-the-mill kind of joking, but the deadpanning she had always loved him for; back when she had known him better, he had always managed to crack the best of jokes in an absolutely serious tone which made them hard to recognize, but therefore twice as entertaining.

Oh yes, back then he had used to joke a lot, and that he was apparently resuming this habit was such a great progress that it caused a grin to creep onto Yuffie's face. "Don't worry," she assured him, trying vainly to emulate his completely earnest tone of voice, "I doubt it's your age – I bet it's the wicked sea air causing us to overlook certain details."

"Possibly," he replied with a weary smirk that vanished as soon as it had come.

And once again, a peaceful silence settled between them.

Leaning onto the railing again, Yuffie started gazing at the waves breaking on the hull while pondering her next question. "And you're really him?" she eventually inquired in a gentle voice.

"Make up your own mind," he answered quite harshly, "You've already got my word on that matter."

"I see." Grimacing, Yuffie realized watching the waves break was not the best thing to do if you tended to motion sickness and thus looked up again. "But, you know, even if I've got your word on that matter, even if I've got lots of evidence…it's still hard to believe."

When he once gain preferred not to answer, she sighed and went on. "Five years ago," she told him, her voice saddening immediately, "you simply left me." She drew a breath. "And you never came back." As she remembered the unbearable, stinging pain she had felt in her chest once she had heard the rumours, tears formed in her eyes. "I've learned you had gone," she whispered as she tried to glimpse away her sadness, "But I've never known how – I've never known why you left." Closing her eyes, she swallowed. "Up until now."

Still, there was no answer. _He hates to explain himself_, Yuffie remembered bitterly, _he always has._

Being the rather stubborn kind of person herself, she had used to acknowledge this certain quality of his. Yet right now, when she could really need some support from his side, such behaviour simply irritated her.

But no – she wouldn't let this hinder her. There was no way she wouldn't try her best. He meant so much to her, she'd give her right arm to reclaim his friendship. And that's what she intended to do. Not the part about the arm, mind you, but the one about regaining his trust. His lack of responses was just a tiny hindrance on her way to accomplishing this task. After all, there was a hilariously obvious method of overcoming this obstacle: She'd simply have to keep on talking. Sooner or later, he'd have to answer.

Thus she cleared her throat and went on, "You've left – but now, you're back again." There was a tiny hint of hope in her voice that grew steadily until it overlapped her sadness. "At first I didn't know how to react, what to think of this, how to digest your actions. And to be honest, I'm still not sure about all this." As she paused, a somewhat strained yet genuine smile spread on her features. "But there is one thing I _am_ sure about: I can't let you go." Finally, she turned her head leftwards to find him watching her out of the corner of his eye.

"Because I need you."

With that, she laughed pitifully. "You used to be there for me whenever I needed help. You used to be the only one I could look up to, the only one I ever felt comfortable around." Unable to suppress her tears anymore, she chuckled at her misery. "Without you, life has lost its colours. I should've been able to cope with it by now – but things have never returned to normal. They've only got worse." Once again, she laughed humourlessly. "Because I've lost you, I've stopped trying. I wish I could have gotten over it, but life has stopped meaning anything to me – and when I couldn't stand it anymore, I've run away from home…" Her laughter turned into sobs as she fell onto her knees, shaking uncontrollably. "And now you're back – and things should get back to normal. But they don't, because they can't and I told myself not to cry, but I do, and it's all because of you and…" She sobbed loudly and tried her best to calm down when she noticed Sephiroth bending down in front of her.

Granted, he didn't look like himself – for some strange reason, he was still wearing the mask of Leon – and still it was him. No one else could be so cold. No one else could be so intriguing. And no one else could tell a joke as seriously as though he actually meant it. No, the man in front of her had to be Sephiroth.

Anybody else might be staring her down, pitying her or even crying with her in this situation, but he was simply crouching in front of her, watching her with an expression that was far too impassionate to be called emotional. And yet it was far too emotional to be called impassionate.

There was only a hint of sympathy shimmering through his mask of indifference – and yet it was there.

"It is unfair to blame me for everything," he whispered as he gently wiped a tear off her face.

"But it is your fault," she replied, still sobbing silently.

He closed his eyes and allowed his face to betray only the tiniest traces of his own anguish as he lowered his head.

"I know, Yuffie, I know."

End Of Chapter Seven

* * *

A/N: Wow, now that was a monstrous chapter, wasn't it? 'Tis also why it took me so long. Actually, I had the text written by Saturday, but editing 5000+ words is the most annoying thing to do. Really.

But anyway, as this was such an extraordinarily long chapter, I'd be extraordinarily happy if I got extraordinarily many reviews for it! Especially now, that I've finally decided to shape the rest of the story a bit less dependent on the game's plot, ideas and suggestions are very welcome!

At this point, I'd like to thank the wonderful people who reviewed the last chapter: Chaotic Rei, saharasfury, Sonicron, ChasingEnlightenment and SAMPSON12187 – thanks! You guys are fantastic!

And now, the moment we've all been waiting for…

A few explanations concerning this chapter:

I forced Yuffie to disguise herself for several reasons: She wanted to show Seph that she, too, can 'transform' into someone else and is therefore worthy of his friendship/acquaintance. Furthermore, she seems more or less used to disguising herself. Throughout the game, she's had several appearances as someone else, p.e. as a reporter, a salesclerk or a sailor. And last but not least, there is still the possibility that some ShinRa guard or sailor would recognize her (even though the security precautions apparently aren't the best ones), thus masquerading seems to be a good choice.

About the whole NPC business – I guess you know what I'm talking about. They really do always say the same. Always. :p

Okay, so much for the explanations. I hope I haven't forgotten anything, but in case there are any questions left or if you have noticed any mistakes or something, tell me in a review! You know I always appreciate them greatly!

I'll post the next chapter as soon as possible – whatever this may mean. (Presumably it'll be up sometime next week, but as to when exactly, I don't have a clue.)

But anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing!

Greetings,  
Linnya


	9. A Couple Of New Allies?

**Like The Sun, Like The Moon**

WARNING: Overly sensitive persons as well as young children and elderly people might regard certain aspects of the following chapter as slightly disturbing.

Chapter Eight

…  
Weird.  
…  
He felt weird.  
…

His whole body was hurting, and he didn't have a clue why.

Although… 'hurt' might not be the right word for it.

There was a certain pain, yes, but it rather felt as though his skin was being scraped. It was no true pain. True pain felt different, more intensive – but then again, had he ever experienced true pain in the body of Jenova?

Pondering, Sephiroth tilted his head. Or rather, he tried to; it wouldn't move much.

Just what the hell had happened?

When he half-opened his eyes, he could make out several colours: lots of blue and gray as well as some sandy shades of ochre swirling throughout his field of vision.

Sighing inwardly, he let his eyelids drop again. No sight, no need to watch.

He'd have to retrace the latest events in order to know just what was wrong with him.

So, what had happened?

He remembered standing with Yuffie at the railing a while ago. She had been insisting on accompanying him on his journey, and he had been trying to dissuade her – without success.  
In the end, he hadn't had much of another choice but to accept her comradeship. Consequently, he also hadn't had much of another choice but to tell her the basics about his mission. Of course he hadn't apprised her of the whole truth; he had merely informed her about what she needed to know: He wasn't really schizophrenic, but occasionally controlled by Jenova, which caused him to do bad things. Said Jenova was a ruthless alien trying to destroy anything, which is why she had to be annihilated as soon as possible.

"She's possessing you?" Yuffie had asked rather anxiously.

At this, Sephiroth had smirked humourlessly. "Actually, it is the other way around."

Hm. This memory meant he had in fact informed her in just whose body he was currently wandering around.  
Which was rather weird.  
He had intended to keep quiet about this certain detail as long as possible, and yet he had told her about it. And what was worse, she hadn't even asked for it.

Ever since he had known her, she had managed to make him reveal more about himself than he had wanted to.  
Might be something about her personality. Maybe her open-mindedness had was rubbing off on him whenever they met?  
Hm. This theory was rather likely. He'd have to keep it in mind for further investigation.

A sudden twitching in his right shoulder shook him, quite literally, out of his reverie. Noting with some relief that his senses were slowing resuming their assigned activities, he realized that the pain-like feeling was originating in his right side.

But him getting injured… sounded so ridiculously unreal.

Just what the hell had happened?

Okay, he'd have to concentrate. No further digressing allowed – he'd have to find out what had happened as soon as possible.

So he had been conversing with Yuffie near the railing. And strangely enough, she had even believed him, without any doubts.  
Weird.  
Some years ago, she had never questioned his words. But things had changed, hadn't they? The girl hadn't exactly trusted his words the day before, which was only understandable. Yet now, she all of a sudden seemed to believe him unconditionally.

Hm…

Maybe she could sense if he was lying or if he wasn't?  
Might be worth an investigation. He'd have to keep that in mind…

Once again, his shoulder twitched, causing Sephiroth to sigh. He had been zoning out again.

Okay, so he had been standing at that railing with the girl who had believed every single word he had told her and then…what?  
What had happened after their little chat?

He remembered there had been something odd. And it had grown odder and odder while they had been speaking…

Another twitching of his shoulder informed him just what had been odd – it had been his right arm.  
It had gone numb as though it had fallen asleep without any real reason.

Well, that alone wasn't too much to worry about. Extremities tended to fall asleep from time to time. In fact, they were even supposed to do so once in a while.  
But what they were certainly not supposed to do was acting against your will.

Yet Sephiroth's, or rather Jenova's, right arm seemed to be of another opinion.

He remembered it rather clearly now – sometime during their little conversation, Yuffie had noticed his arm's poor condition and decided to do something against it. Thus she had tried to medicate it with her unfortunately non-existent first aid skills.  
Well, eventually she had managed to revive his arm, yet not with a particularly positive impact – because it wasn't him, but Jenova controlling it.

And that had led to some nasty consequences.

Being able to materialize Masamune and use magic without his consent, his possessed arm would probably have injured, maybe even killed, Yuffie if he hadn't quickly retreated to the lower deck while battling Jenova's will inside of his head.

Two minutes later, when several guards had lost their lives due to his inability to regain control, Sephiroth had been forced to acknowledge that he might and possibly would fail in ever winning back his arm.

And thus…

He had chopped it off.

Frankly spoken, it hadn't even been as hard as he had thought. He had simply grabbed the Masamune with his left hand, turned it around and cut his right arm off. No hesitation, no regrets.

Well, if it had been his body, he might have been more tentative about mutilating himself, but since this wasn't the case, he didn't really have to worry about any consequences.

…did he?

Certainly, that nauseating feeling was about to drive him crazy, yet he still preferred it to involuntarily slaughtering innocents without any control whatsoever.

So if he had lost his right arm for the greater good, so be it. It might be a bit inopportune, but still manageable.

Although… thinking about it, he began assessing this outcome as rather fortunate – thanks to his nearly unlimited ability to transform, the fact that one arm was lost didn't quite matter anymore. After all, he could simply project the picture of a _complete_ person into anyone's heads and nobody would mind. Not even he himself, because he would control whatever form the others were seeing. So all in all, the loss of his arm wasn't regrettable at all, but on the contrary, it was quite a blessing; sooner or later, the Puppet and His Friends would have to get rid of Jenova for him. So why shouldn't they start now? Disposing her bit by bit would certainly prove less difficult than defeating her as a whole.

Hm…this was indeed one useful realization. He'd have to keep that in mind.

When suddenly his right shoulder twitched once again, he noticed with a rahter bizarre kind of satisfaction that he finally knew just why it was twitching – because it lacked the arm it had used to connect to his torso. So the pseudo-pain was originating there, and he was sure it had to bleed like hell.

Although…he couldn't be all that certain whether Jenova's body would in fact bleed the way human ones tended to… Might be worth an investigation. In fact, he could start investigating right here and now – if his eyes were only at least partly useful. But, as he had to accept after catching a quick glimpse of the colourful blur that was his surroundings, he was still unable to process any visual impression.

Hence he was forced to reconsider his current situation.

So he had been watching the sea while talking to Yuffie when his arm had gone berserk. Subsequently he had backed away to the engine room in the lower deck and finally chopped off that godforsaken arm of his. And then…

Then what?

Ever since then, he had been half-lying, half-sitting on that same spot near one of the machines, trying to remember while struggling against the sleep battling his wakefulness with tenacious persistence.

That's what he had been doing – but what about his arm?

It was then that he recognized the noises sounding in the background as battle cries. This meant Jenova had indeed taken advantage of the arm, which he had so conveniently dropped, by using it to communicate with the puppet and fight it thereafter.

Sephiroth wondered briefly just why she fought the clone and his clique despite her easily predictable defeat, but he soon had to admit that there was really no way to retrace her reasoning. He simply couldn't understand her – just as most people didn't understand him.

And he was just fine with that.

After all, if people did indeed conceive his reasoning, his whole plan would lose its validity. He had to be known as the bad guy, the evil villain, the mad miscreant – or else Jenova would never be eliminated completely.  
Because, if they knew, Cloud and Co. might refuse to go on, rendering all Sephiroth's sacrifices useless with that decision…

"Hey, Leon!"

A voice shook him out of his musings. Young, energetic, feminine and obviously concerned about something. Yuffie's voice. And she was worried about him.

What a caring girl.

"Leon, can you hear me?"

He might have nodded, but at the moment it still seemed impossible; his body might be in the right condition to move, which he was sure of, yet he still couldn't persuade it to actually do something.

"C'mon, answer already!"

Judging by her voice, she was growing more and more desperate. After several fruitless attempts to yell him conscious, she even tried to wake him up by gently shaking his left shoulder. However, as he wasn't exactly lacking the awareness but rather his body's cooperation, her well-meant attempts were to no avail.

"You should stop trying."

It was the puppet speaking – so they had finally defeated his arm? Sephiroth grimaced inwardly at the grotesque image this thought brought up in his mind and corrected his choice of words – So they had finally defeated Jenova?

"He's dead by now."

Obviously they had, or else the clone wouldn't be standing nearby right now while declaring Leon's – his! – death in that calm, grave tone that would have caused Sephiroth to believe it himself. If he hadn't known for a fact that the puppet couldn't be right, that is.

"He… Sephiroth doesn't do that – He doesn't hurt without killing."

He didn't even have time to ponder whether this certain aspect of his reputation was a good or a bad one, when he suddenly heard a loud slap echoing through the room.

Someone had just been smacked.

And, considering the current situation, Sephiroth noted in faint amusement that it must have been Yuffie hitting the clone.

"How dare you say that!" she was yelling frantically, "He _can't_ be dead!" With that, she grabbed Leon by his shoulders, this time both, and shook him again. "C'mon, get up!"

"Wait…" It was the clone's voice again.

"Darn! Get up, man! Leon!" Yuffie was still shaking him, yet her optimism and consequently the force she was using kept decreasing steadily.

"Aren't you the one who stole our money?"

Immediately the girl stopped shaking.

Under different circumstances, Sephiroth might have laughed.

Honestly, how tactless could one be? It might have been an honourable attempt to considerately distract the girl, it might have been the complete opposite. Either way, the clone's behaviour wasn't the brightest course of action; infuriating Yuffie had never been a good idea…

Sephiroth could clearly hear the girl's footfalls as she was stomping towards the puppet. "Just what does it matter!" he heard her yelling frantically. But no… she wasn't yelling.

She was screaming.

And it was then, when her voice was just about to crack, that Sephiroth finally realized the girl was suffering.

"Here – I'll give it all back to you!" she screeched as she threw her purse at the ex-SOLDIER, "You can have all my money if it's so important to you!"

She was angry, she was frantic, she was desperate.

He didn't want her to be in that state. He wanted her to stop screaming. He wanted to soothe her. He wanted to regain control over his body…

"What does it matter now!" she shrieked while punching Cloud's chest weakly, "If he's dieing, then…"

"He's not."

As he opened his eyes and slowly rose to stand firmly before them, everyone's disbelieving gazes darted towards the wounded officer. Yet his focus lay only on a frantic Yuffie staring at him with wide, hopeful eyes.

"There is no need to distress yourself because of me."

Turning around to face him squarely, Yuffie struggled with her words. "But you didn't move," she muttered, "I thought you…"

"You were mistaken," Leon interrupted her ramblings in his typical, fairly indifferent manner, "I told you I do not die that easily."

"Yeah, but…" Yuffie sputtered as her gaze shifted towards the empty space his right arm would normally be located at, "what about your…injury?"

Granted, the loss of his arm caused a rather weird feeling; he felt permanently off balance although he was standing steadily. But beyond that, there was nothing. The 'pain' seemed to be subsiding, the bleeding had started fading as soon as he'd regained control. The only thing still left to do was renewing his appearance so he'd officially regain his right arm and therefore his balance. However, he couldn't do this right now, as just about the whole of Avalanche was watching him in utter speechlessness.

Finally, when he realized the girl was waiting for an answer, he simply shrugged – which felt rather weird with only one arm – and stated matter-of-factly, "It will regrow eventually."

The reactions these four words triggered off were indeed _interesting_…

Yuffie's right eye twitched spasmodically.

The puppet's eyes widened slightly.

The Cetra frowned.

The… barely clothed woman tilted her head to the side.

The black man was grimacing in confusion.

The red dog-wolf-something was simply doing…nothing.

"What do you mean, 'regrow'?" the busty girl, whom Sephiroth recognized as the travel guide from Nibelheim, asked uncertainly.

Tilting his head to return her gaze, he quickly thought up a halfway credible excuse. "Have you ever heard of a certain professor Hojo?" he asked them as he carefully leaned back against the wall. Yet as he didn't expect either of them to answer, he simply went on straight away. "Thanks to him…" He paused and corrected himself, "Or let's say, because of him I've got some rather useful self-recovery skills."

Immediately, the confusion left the faces of all assembled Avalanchers. Yuffie, too, seemed to be somewhat satisfied with that answer, but her reproachful gaze dared him to explain things to her later on. With that, he really didn't have a problem, since it wasn't Yuffie, but Avalanche who shouldn't get to know certain facts about his personality.

"So you've also been one of Hojo's specimen?"

Looking for the voice's source, Sephiroth recognized the red, wolf-like creature as the one who had addressed him. He answered the wolf's question with a curt nod and responded, "I take you belong to our cosy little society as well."

"I do," the creature replied with a nod of his own when all of a sudden…

"Huh?" Yuffie exclaimed noisily, staring at the wolf in utter disbelief, "You can _talk_!"

Sephiroth sighed. That was the question he had unhesitatingly decided _not_ to ask, yet obviously not everyone shared his attitude towards tact and discretion.

"Just what kind of animal _are_ you!"

"Yuffie…" he reprimanded her at a low voice, causing her to whirl around and face him stubbornly. "What's wrong about asking some questions?" she pouted. Yet her tenacity quickly melted away. Her comrade's strict stare silenced her while the miserable condition he still appeared to be in turned her determined expression into a compassionate, almost pained one.

Finally, the wolf decided to break the silence. "It is alright," it spoke calmly, "People tend to ask me this." Once he had regained the audience's attention, he added nonchalantly, "Frankly spoken, my ability to talk stems from my affiliation to a rare species only few individuals are left of."

Sephiroth nodded in acknowledgement, Yuffie expressed her thoughts in a meaningful "Oh, I see…"

"Say…" This time, it was the Cetra speaking. She seemed rather uneasy, yet stated her deduction nonetheless, "You used to be… treated by Hojo, and yet you are travelling on this ship with us." She paused briefly as she looked directly into his eyes. "You don't happen to be chasing Sephiroth as well, do you?"

Hm.

If this little accident hadn't happened, they would have never been able to draw such a conclusion and everything would be fine. But no, life just had to go the way he _didn't_ want it to. First it had made him meet Yuffie again, then it had allowed Jenova to play extraordinarily funny tricks on him, and now even those nosy Avalanche guys were bothering him. And, what was even worse, his current situation forbade him to simply refuse an answer.

But lamenting his poor luck wouldn't help him either; he'd have to get this done and over with.

Thus, after only a short while of silence, he finally cleared his throat. "Indeed I do." While stating this response, he carefully repositioned himself in a less excruciating fashion – he might not like admitting it, but now that he had eventually resumed _full_ control over his body, it was calling attention to the lacking arm more and more agonizingly. "However, it is not him I am after."

Hissing in pain, he slid down against the wall and concluded his statement at a low yet clearly audible whisper, "But Jenova."

While the others were staring at him in utter indecision, his sudden rendition of weakness had alarmed Yuffie immediately. "Leon?" she asked anxiously as she jumped at his side. "Anything I can do?"

He coughed. "…got a Cure or something?"

After blinking at her own stupidity for forgetting the First Aid again, Yuffie hastily touched her Enemy Skill materia and cast a White Wind on everyone assembled.

As he felt the white, calming light enter his body, Sephiroth knew it wasn't strong enough to really ease his pain. But at least it gave him a credible excuse to finally close that damned wound.

During the long minutes he had already had to suffer from this injury, he had developed the theory that at least half of the pain he perceived was originating from his current camouflage, whose sensations were emulated by Jenova's body in an unfortunately most convincing way.

Thus, he took advantage of the cover the White Wind offered and changed his current appearance of Leon the Officer with a Bleeding Stump into that of Leon the Officer with an Arm Slowly Regenerating. As long as the clone and his clique were around, he wouldn't risk regrowing his arm within a mere second, since, even despite Hojo's experiments, such a quick recovery was commonly considered as rather impossible. Yet simply moving on without a right arm at all wasn't an option either. Hence, he'd simply have to take some time in re-establishing his completeness, progressing bit by bit.

Granted, this was an annoyingly tedious course of action, yet thanks to Cloud and Co. he didn't have much of another choice.

Oh well. At least the pain was finally subsiding, this time probably for good; to all appearances Sephiroth's theory had just been proved valid: Shortly after applying the new disguise, there was still a tiny hint of itching left, yet the aching had stopped as soon as his human shell had recovered.

What a relief.

"Thank you," he told Yuffie with a small smile once the white light had vanished.

She noticed his change in appearance – the blood had vanished, his stump seemed to have healed – but inquired nevertheless, "Are you better now?"

"I'm fine," he told her truthfully and took a few deep breaths. He didn't bother standing up, but sat peacefully in order to allow his condition to improve as much as possible; of course he'd favour rising again to demonstrate he was indeed fine, yet he wouldn't risk another relapse, especially as he didn't feel as 'fine' as he'd like to. Thus, he simply kept sitting while waiting for Avalanche to resume their conversation.

However, there was a long silence until someone finally did.

It was the travel guide from Nibelheim. "I'm sorry for your arm," she began rather awkwardly before advancing to the more important matters, "But you said you were after Jenova – that's Sephiroth's mother, right?" Taking the officer's lack of an answer as a 'yes', she went on, "And that tentacle-thing back there…" She nodded towards dead arm lying peacefully several metres in the distance, "I've seen this somewhere… before."

As he followed her gaze, Cloud, too, recognized the tentacle. "…Jenova," he muttered darkly before turning back to Tifa, "You mean he's been walkin' around with that thing?"

The brunette nodded solemnly when suddenly, the tentacle transformed into a comparatively tiny, red orb, causing Sephiroth as well as Yuffie to frown in disbelief. Tentacles transforming into materia defied nature in every way you looked at it – and yet the clone didn't seem to suspect anything when he picked it up as though it was the most common thing in the world and made his way back towards the group. "So it WAS Sephiroth," he stated in utter surprise; a sentence that forced just another heavy sigh out of the villain in question.

It was more than just a frustrating realization to find his pursuers struggling with the most obvious clues when he'd prefer them to fully grasp his crazy evilness in its sheer enormity. And, honestly, it was not _that hard_ to grasp.

But then again, this _was_ Cloud Strife. The legendary ex-Soldier commonly referred to as 'chocobo head' throughout the world of FFs. And frankly, he hadn't been given this nickname without a reason.

_I'll have to take what I get_, Sephiroth finally accepted with another sigh when said puppet, up until now deeply indulged in his own deductions, suddenly addressed him. "…and he attacked you because you were a threat to Jenova."

A long moment of silence passed until Sephiroth realized the intent stare he was receiving meant he was supposed to answer. After another moment of silence, he decided to more or less gratefully accept the excuse the clone was providing and finally responded in a rather dry tone, "A…valid explanation."

"But there are still some questions left," the puppet went on in a more bewildered tone, "Why have you survived?"

Sephiroth frowned. "So you wish I hadn't?" he inquired with a fake hurt expression, causing Cloud's eyes to widen. "Oh sorry," the clone exclaimed hastily, "that's not what I wanted to say!" He cast an apologetic look at the officer and added, "But I mean – normally his attacks are deadly, you know…"

"Normally this attack would have been deadly," Sephiroth countered firmly, "However, I managed to partially dodge thanks to your glorious entry."

"I see," Cloud responded in a formally sympathetic way, yet quickly continued his little interrogation in a less compassionate tone, "Why have you come down here in the first place?"

Sephiroth sighed. This questioning was slowly but surely growing more and more annoying. He hated justifying himself, just as he didn't exactly favour thinking up new lies all the time. But in both respects he didn't have a choice, thus he'd have to simply play along – unless…

"Why don't _you_ tell me?"

Unless he'd simply act the same way he always did.

"Think about just why I might have come down here, Mr Simpleton," he went on in rather crude manner while watching the clone out of slightly narrowed eyes, "If you have at least partly listened, figuring me out ought to be utterly facile."

Looking somewhat hurt, Cloud began to ponder.

And he pondered.

And pondered.

And pondered.

Finally, after five minutes of intensive brain activity on the clone's part, one of his team-mates had the heard to unburden the poor chocobo head. "It's Jenova, isn't it?" the wolf stated matter-of-factly, "You felt her presence."  
Again, Sephiroth sighed. Yet this time, it wasn't a sigh of frustration, but one of relief – because this meant that at least a part of the puppet's gang had an actual _brain_. One that was even _functional_.

This was a more than just great revelation – a supernaturally, almost surreally great one, so to speak; and corresponding to its surreal greatness, it eased both his mind and his mission tremendously. Finally it wasn't necessary anymore to leave clues wherever he went to make sure the clone got at least a part of them; now he could rely on at least one member of his crew to be capable of figuring them out. At least partly.

Deciding the wolf was more than worthy of an answer, Sephiroth confirmed the creature's deduction with a simple yet grateful "exactly" and added as an afterthought, "Although it didn't exactly work out as I had planned."

"Are you going to continue still?" Aeris inquired quietly.

He wasn't exactly sure what she was driving at, nonetheless Sephiroth nodded. "Of course."

Returning his nod, Aeris addressed Yuffie. "And you are accompanying him, aren't you?"

As he watched the one girl affirming the other one's estimation with determination, Sephiroth's eyes suddenly widened in disbelief. The Cetra wasn't really going to…

"Then why don't you join us?"

The sheer idea of him journeying with his so called 'fated rival' was so hilarious that Sephiroth found himself actually _shocked_ at the Cetra's naïve proposal – and _shock_ was such an unfamiliar and unwelcome sensation that it indeed took him a while to fully process the new information.

"I don't think…" he finally began in a somewhat disturbed tone when he noticed in slight irritation that he had hesitated too long – Yuffie had started speaking only a moment after him and was already drowning him out completely.

"I think it's a GREAT idea!" she exclaimed enthusiastically and in such a shrill, high-pitched voice that it was a wonder the windows weren't shattering.

"Yuffie," Sephiroth told her indignantly as he grabbed her arm to drag her closer and discreetly hissed into her ear, "It is _not_ a great idea."

While staring her down strictly, he tried to recall just what might entitle the girl to make decisions of such weight _without his consent_.

The truth was, as he concluded after a while of pondering, Yuffie didn't exactly have a right to choose his course of action at all. However, the whole friendship affair might cause her to believe so.

It was strange thing, really.  
Persons considered as 'friends' could be somewhat pleasant to spend time with. However, there was one thing about this certain category of people that had always kept Sephiroth from allowing anyone to become more than a mere acquaintance – 'friends' wouldn't allow him to intimidate them; they would never follow his orders.

And already did Sephiroth regret permitting Yuffie to restore their friendship – the girl didn't take his warning seriously, but watched him with her huge, cute, puppy dog eyes while crouching directly in front of him. "Why not?" she begged, "It'll be such a lot of fun!"

"Don't be stupid, Yuffie…" he whispered in annoyance, his right eye twitching dangerously.

"Don't be stupid, Sephy…" she retorted stubbornly, leaning forward to such an extent that the tips of their noses were almost touching. She was so focussed on glaring at him that she only noticed her mistake when he scowled in disapproval. "…won't be dealt with easily if it's only the two of us, y'know," she finally added surprisingly calmly and backed away to sit down in front of him.

She was playing her role well, Sephiroth had to admit as he amusedly watched her actions. She might have almost let his secret slip, yet she had saved the situation superiorly by turning the unintended interval into a meaningful one. Yet even if she had gone on in a less calm manner, Sephiroth guessed the others would not have suspected anything – she might be trying to hide it, yet the glowing blush that was currently spreading on her face like a wildfire spoke volumes.

The poor girl had realized just how close their faces had been and was now embarrassed about it.

How endearing.

"'Sephy', huh?"

This time it was a giggling Cetra who broke the silence. "What a cute nickname," she said with a smile before addressing the one she had just unconsciously mocked, "But she's right, you know."

Frowning, 'Sephy' looked up at her.

"We can help each other in reaching our aims," she told him brightly, "even though they differ slightly." She crouched next to him and Yuffie before going on. "And I promise we won't handicap you," she concluded with a welcoming smile, "In fact, I promise we'll help fighting him, so something like this –" She nodded sensitively towards the remains of his right arm. "– won't ever happen again."

Sephiroth sighed. The fact that he had _not_ lost his arm on account of his physical inability to combat himself invalidated the Cetra's arguments completely; he honestly doubted they could keep him from maiming his body again if Jenova ever decided to possess any further limbs. And yet he couldn't find any method of talking himself out of this; there were simply no logical reasons to assert without exposing himself, and fighting his way out of this situation wasn't an option either. Thus he didn't have much of another choice but to agree.

"Alright."

Immediately, the two girls' faces lit up.

"Great, man!" Yuffie exclaimed brilliantly, all former shyness momentarily forgotten as she patted his shoulder amicably, "You won't regret it!" Suddenly, she hesitated and turned to Aeris, "We won't, will we?"

The flower girl smiled. "Of course you won't," she guaranteed them merrily, "Welcome to Avalanche!"

Recognizing the name, Yuffie gasped audibly. Nonetheless Aeris's enthusiasm didn't even as much as falter as went on with her introduction, gesturing towards the respective member while naming them. "These lovely fellows are Tifa Lockheart…" The travel guide from Nibelheim winked at them. "Barrett Wallace." The rather voluminous man with the machine gun nodded, but kept eyeing them rather suspiciously. "Red XIII." The red wolf did a gesture akin to bowing. "Cloud Strife." The clone grinned. "And I am Aeris Gainsborough." She beamed and turned to them.

Yuffie, who had regained her composure rather quickly, returned the formality. "I'm Yuffie Kisaragi," she told them brightly and gestured towards her companion. "And his name's Leon –" Suddenly, she paused. Did her comapnion's current alias actually have a last name? But even if he'd already thought one up, he certainly didn't use it often – which meant he wouldn't mind her creating a new one, would he?

"Actually, it's Jean-Philippe Marque Marie Lyonne," she informed her new buddies rather flippantly, "But everyone calls him Leon."

If he wasn't so lazy, Sephiroth was sure he would be slamming his head against some wall right now. Over and over again.

Just where had his authority gone?

What had become of the respect people had used to pay him?

Back in the auld lang syne, nobody would have dared making fun of his name_twice in a row_. Because nobody would have survived it. And yet this girl kept provoking him, jeopardizing her life and, more importantly, his self-esteem.

But why?

Why was she doing this?

Why was she _daring_ this?

He'd definitely have to clarify certain principles later on, or else the girl might think he was actually approving of her behaviour – which he certainly wasn't.

What an annoying girl.

"Dock workers –" An announcement by the personnel – the employees he had left alive, not the dead ones – shook him out of his reverie. "We will be docking in Costa Del Sol in five minutes. Prepare for docking."

Great thing. So the ship would finally arrive after all. He was indeed looking forward to regaining some privacy, but the fact they were stowaways on a ship reaching its destination every moment now also meant…

"Woah! We'd best hurry and hide somewhere."

Exactly. The black guy, 'Barret', expressed precisely what Sephiroth felt. Only with the tiny difference that the word-like "Whoa!" certainly hadn't crossed the latter's mind.

"Can you stand?" Yuffie asked him caringly as she got up and offered him a hand.

"I am not disabled, you know," he replied with a frown and rose effortlessly, even without her help.

"Why so snappy today?" she grumbled with a frown of her own.

He raised an eyebrow. "Why so annoying today?" he responded.

Yuffie groaned, ready to retort, yet Sephiroth was faster.

"Let's go," he simply said before leaving to hide behind some crate, moody ninja in tow.

But well, at least this one single time, his orders were _not_ questioned.

End Of Chapter Eight

* * *

A/N:**_Before_** you call me a sadist, let me inform you that our good ole pals at Square Enix virtually forced me to cut off Seph's arm. After all, Cloud and Co. were fighting Jenova's arm in the game, so I really didn't have much of another choice... But don't worry, by the next chapter (or maybe the one after that, who knows?) he'll be complete again. 

I guess you are rather shoked/surprised/somethignelsed that I made him and Yuff team up with Cloud and Co. To be honest, I hadn't even planned to do this in the beginning, but it happens to be quite a good basis for me to work with in later chapters, so I thought it might be a nice idea. shrugs

Now, in case you're wondering, about the way Seph's condition developed in this chapter: You might have noticed that after being half-unconscious, he's first getting better, than suddenly worse, and finally better again. This isn't a mistake or anything – when I had a cold a while ago, I forced myself to get up and do something useful, once I felt a tiny little bit better. And then, it only got worse. Okay, I don't know whether this can really be compared to losing an arm, but… I think you know what I mean.

So anyway, I hope you liked this chapter and are willing to submit a nice little review – because those funny little fellows tend to motivate authors to write more stuff more quickly. Really!

Because of the great reviews I got since the last time posted, this chapter has become even longer than the last one, and that was already a monster.

So now, lots of special thanks to Chaotic Rei, saharasfury, Sonicron and Jillato for being such loyal reviewers, and further lots of special thanks to Somnus as well as SouthwestEggroll for actually bothering to review all eight (!) chapters of the story. You guys are so wonderful, really!

BTW: The "in-e-waite..." Yuffie uses in the first chapter is meant to be a questionably pronounce "inevitable", but for a better understanding's sake I now changed it into a flawless "in-e-witte...". Thanks to SouthwestEggroll for pointing this out :p

So now...  
Thanks to all of you for reading and reviewing!

Greetings & see you in the next chapter,  
Linnya


	10. Time To Relax, Time To Reflect

**Like The Sun, Like The Moon**

Chapter Nine

"The weather's nice today, isn't it?"  
"'Tis hot."  
"Oh, c'mon, at least it's _pleasantly_ hot – still way better than freezing in the snow!"  
"…"  
"And it's much more relaxing than stomping through the rain!"  
"…"  
"Or being blown away by a storm!"  
"…"  
"Or getting –"  
"Just what are you trying to tell me?"  
"The weather's nice today, isn't it?"  
"'Tis hot."  
"…"  
"…"  
"There's no need to play NPC anymore, you know."  
"Then stop worshipping the weather."  
"…"

Once arrived at Costa Del Sol, the little group of people commonly referred to as AVALANCHE had decided to split up for the time being. After all, it had been a rather exhausting boat trip, and all of them wanted to get their well-deserved rest their own way.

Sephiroth, however, would have preferred continuing their journey right away. Yet as he'd have to wait for Avalanche either way, he could as well do it here. There was a nice little bar just around the corner, one that was rumoured to offer the greatest drinks.  
He would have liked to check the place out; he _really_ would have liked to do so. Yet apparently, Yuffie had had another idea. Claiming that they could have a drink later on, she had forcefully dragged him towards the beach, insisting upon 'enjoying the sunshine as long as it lasted'.

Albeit not exactly approving of her idea of "fun", he had grumpily complied and taken a seat on the deckchair next to Yuffie's.

Back then, it had been eight o'clock.  
The sun had set ten minutes later.

"C'mon, we've hardly settled down and you already want to leave?" she had persisted stubbornly, "Let's at least stay _a little_ while longer!"

Back then, it had been ten past eight.  
Now it was ten.

The _little while _had turned out a tiny bit longer than he would have preferred. What was the girl enjoying about this place? Salty air, sand practically everywhere and horribly high temperatures?

She might like such an atmosphere – he certainly didn't.

So hot… so bothersome.

"How's the arm?"

Tilting his head to the side, Sephiroth arched an eyebrow at the noisy girl practically shattering his eardrums with her shrill voice.

"There's no need to scream like a banshee," he informed her while turning his head back to watch the sea.

Now it was Yuffie's turn to arch an eyebrow. "So how's the arm?" she finally whispered in an almost inaudible voice.

"It is alright," he responded and lazily raised his right arm. Much to Yuffie's surprise, it had 'regrown' completely by now. "How's that possible?" she asked, staring at it with wide eyes.

"I told you about my ability to transform," he answered dryly.

Her mouth formed an 'O' and he went on, "The real arm has gone for good, though."

At this, Yuffie coughed uneasily. "You're really serious about this, aren't you?" she inquired with a frown and went on a little hesitantly, "I mean, back on the ship, you told me this –" She gestured in his general direction, "– isn't really your body, but Jenova's, whoever this might be…"

He didn't even falter before answering firmly, "A threat to be eliminated immediately."

"They mentioned she was your mother earlier on…" Yuffie remarked at a quiet voice.

"Considering I can control her body, we can be considered somewhat…related. But I certainly wouldn't call Jenova my mother," he informed her with a dismissive wave of his hand.

At least, or let's say, _especially_ in Sephiroth's case, such an answer meant as much as "topic closed". However, Yuffie wasn't willing to give up just yet. "But just how are you related to her?" she inquired persistently.

"Who knows?" he countered mysteriously.

She eyed him sceptically. "You don't?"

"Of course I do," he stated as he tilted his head a bit, "but that doesn't mean I'm telling you."

Grumbling in disapproval, Yuffie started pouting.

Not that Sephiroth would mind. A silent ninja girl was so much easier to deal with than a nosy teenage brat.

So quiet… so pleasant.

"She must've committed a really evil crime, huh?"

Sephiroth sighed.

"After all, you want to kill her," Yuffie remarked as she finally lay back as well since he wasn't returning her gaze either way, "That's what you told Spike and the others, isn't it?"

He didn't respond. Instead, unbeknownst to Yuffie, he was starting to wonder just what weird phenomenon the whitish being moving trough the deeper waters might be.

"But if you want to kill her, and you are currently in her body, then…" She hesitated, glimpsing at him out of the corner of her eye.

He didn't react. _Looks almost as though someone's drowning back there…_

Sighing, but hoping he was still attentive, Yuffie went on, "Then you're planning to kill yourself… or at least this body, aren't you?"

Still no reply. _Just who would go swimming with the towel in tow?_

"But you're gonna return to your original body before that, aren't you?" she asked tentatively.

"That's why we're on this journey, isn't it?" she inquired uneasily.

"You won't really die, will you?" she pleaded hoarsely.

And still, he didn't answer. _Have I already fulfilled today's good deed?_

And then she sniffed. "Please don't tell me you're gonna commit suicide," she whispered quietly, almost desperately.

_Maybe I should really rescue this person?_

"Sephiroth!"

He frowned. "Couldn't you at least all me by my pseudonym?"

"But you didn't react to anything!" she called out in frustration.

He shrugged and nodded towards the sea. "I was contemplating whether someone is drowning there or not."

"I'm talking about serious matters here and you –" Yuffie yelled, but stopped in mid-sentence. "What?" Squinting hard, she, too, recognized the white something struggling with literally overwhelming waves in the far distance and, without any warning, the girl shot up to dash towards the water. Yet when she noticed Sephiroth wasn't following her, she stopped abruptly and whirled around. "What do you think you're doing!" she yelled, waving about agitatedly, "We've got to help!" With that, she turned back and ran into the sea.

Sighing, Sephiroth got up. "Don't go any further!" he calmly called after her, in a quiet voice but still loud enough for her to hear his words, "You'll get caught up in the waves as well."

Whirling around once again, Yuffie glared at him, yet her stare was full of indecision. "But.." she mumbled, knitting her eyebrows while watching his approaching form, "We can't let this fellow die…"

"Get out of the water," he commanded with a curt nod towards their deckchairs. "I'll take care of it."

Her eyes widened. "Of course!" she yelled excitedly, shocked at her lack of common sense, "You can transform into a dolphin!"

He frowned at her while overseeing her retreat from the knee-deep water. "Why should I transform into a dolphin…"

He stepped onto the water.

Not into it, but _onto_ it.

He smirked and concluded, "…if I can simply walk there?"

As he swiftly passed her, moving gracefully over the darkening ocean's surface as though it was nothing, Yuffie couldn't help but gape after him.

Apparently, this man always had a surprise in store – he never ceased astonishing her.

Meanwhile said man, having long arrived at the white figure, was experiencing a surprise of his own. The identity of the person currently fidgeting at his feet seemed so hilariously ironic that he felt a barely suppressible urge to laugh.

But he was Sephiroth – he wouldn't laugh. A mere, evanescent signal of schadenfreude would have to do.

Thus he simply chuckled evilly as he crouched next to the drowning man who, due to his current misery, hadn't even noticed him yet. However, the sudden movement above the water's surface finally caught the person's attention. Looking up at Sephiroth, or rather Leon, he stared at him with a critical frown while battling the waves, which, strangely enough, had become less intensive since his potential rescuer's arrival.

"Who would have thought…" the quite literally _superior_ of the two men snarled with an evil smirk, "Despite all your genetic improvements, you obviously still can't swim, Hojo."

Immediately, the professor's eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"

Ignoring the so called scientist's request, Leon went on in an even haughtier manner, "But probably, as you are such a genius, you must be here due to an extraordinarily important research. Hence I shall not disturb you any further." Rising again, he added with a weary grin, "Can't risk getting fired because I hindered your studies, can I?"

He was just turning on his heels, when all of a sudden an unusually huge wave washed the professor away. Ironically.

Frowning, Sephiroth wondered whether Hojo's death was really such a great, unbearable loss that he'd feel any kind of regret if he didn't exactly bother helping him. Nevertheless, he wearily scanned the area for any signs of a white lab coat. At least nobody could blame him this way.

He himself hadn't been hit by the wave for he was able to control his surroundings to a certain extent – probably not due to Jenova's powers, she was more of an illusionist, but rather because of the mako treatments he as well as Jenova had been receiving regularly. Either way, he had been spared – Hojo, on the other hand, had not.

Oh, how regrettable…

And there was still no white lab coat in sight. Why would anyone go swimming with that thing anyway? Sephiroth grimaced. Probably, his dearly beloved father didn't even _have_ any other clothes besides a wide variety of lab coats…

And then he spotted it, out of the corner of his eye: a flash of white, re-emerging at the surface. Yet obviously, the professor had lost his consciousness, or else he would still be struggling, at least a bit.

Yet he wasn't moving at all.

Sephiroth sighed.

In times like these, he really wished there was some kind of flower in the nearness. But there weren't any blooming plants in the ocean, at least not on his current position.

Although…

A fake flower would serve this certain purpose as well, wouldn't it? Grinning idly, Sephiroth materialized a simple, five-leaved flower in his hand and began removing its petals.

"Save him – don't save him – save him – don't save him…" He frowned as he detached the last petal. "Save him." Sighing, he disposed the flower's remains and lazily made his way to the unconscious scientist, pulled his soaked form out of the water and threw it carelessly over his shoulder. "Next time, I believe I should really take a flower with six petals."

* * *

"Why did you take so long?" Yuffie all but screamed when he reached the beach and unceremoniously dropped his half-dead cargo onto a deckchair nearby. 

"You, too, would think twice about this little rescue mission if you knew just what kind of fish I've caught here," he informed her whilst watching his so called father in dislike.

Frowning at his words, Yuffie finally took a closer look at the soaked man lying motionlessly between her and Sephiroth.

"Huh?" she eventually exclaimed in utter bewilderment, "He isn't really wearing a lab coat, is he?" Taking his lack of an answer as a yes, she kept staring at the apparently unconscious professor until she eventually realized how ridiculous her constant gape had to be looking. Hence, she redirected her attention to her friend and inquired with still knitted brows, "Shinra?"

"Hojo," he responded with a curt nod.

Immediately, Yuffie's eyes widened.

Immediately, a small smirk crept onto Sephiroth's face. "I see you've already heard of him," he remarked wryly.

"You are the one who told me about him!" she countered with a frown.

He tilted his head to the side. "Am I?"

"You mentioned him," a suddenly hesitant Yuffie answered rather quietly as she averted her gaze from her friend, "just before you went to Nibelheim."

"I see." The voice he was answering her in, even more monotonous than usual, informed her that he didn't "see" it at all. Hell, he didn't even remember their last meeting! But, as Yuffie realized with a weird kind of relief, there were more pressing matters than her companion's indifference right now. Gulping down that indignant lump of frustration, she finally looked back up at Sephiroth, ready to speak again.

However, he was faster. "By the way," the ex-General remarked in a somewhat casual manner, "He is awake."

For what felt like the millionth time that day, Yuffie's jaw dropped to the ground. "Really?" she mumbled as she eyed the person lying in front of her doubtfully. The short, skinny man clad in a lab coat didn't appear to move at all. She wasn't sure whether he was even breathing – undoubtedly, Hojo was unconscious, maybe even dead…wasn't he?

How could Sephiroth assume this person could be awake?

"C'mon, let's go."

Yuffie blinked. "Just like that?" she addressed her travelling companion with a frown.

"Just like that," he responded before and turned to leave without any further ado. "But of course you can stay behind and chat a little," he remarked while watching her out of the corner of his eye, "However, I'd advise you to get a good night's sleep. It's late and we shall get up early in the morrow." Turing back towards the town, he started wandering off the beach. "Either way, I won't hinder you." And with that, he was gone.

Unsure whether to follow or stay, Yuffie's undecided look shifted from her friend to her foe and back. Stealing a last glance at the possibly dieing professor, she finally chose to go after Sephiroth. He _was_ the more pleasant of option after all.

However, once she had done her first step out of this rather unpleasant situation, a creepily twanging voice sent shivers down her spine. "I know you, girl…"

Whirling around, Yuffie discovered the very same man she had formerly assessed as dead sitting calmly on his deckchair, watching her with sharp eyes.

Even if she hadn't been completely dumbfounded by his sudden comeback from the dead, Yuffie wouldn't have been able to think up with an answer to his words. What did that old, greasy man expect her to say?

Apparently nothing.

He didn't give her much time to breed over a possible reaction as he went on in his deductions. "You are that Wutainese girl…" he mumbled gradually, more to himself than to anyone else, causing a frown to creep onto Yuffie's face. So he had recognized her heritage – what a _great_ accomplishment on his part.

However, while his first conclusion hadn't exactly done much to unsettle her, his second one caught her totally off guard. "…the one Sephiroth liked to play with."

Within a split second her eyes widened dramatically, yet she quickly realized how stupid it would be not talk her way out of this. Hence, in order to appear as one of Sephiroth's fans rather than a good friend of his, she held her hand in front of her mouth and exclaimed in surprise, "Sephiroth!" She eyed Hojo with a mixture of fascination and disbelief. "The Great General Sephiroth!" she uttered in awe and tilted her head to the side, "Yeah, back then, after the war, he used to come to town rather often." She paused and heaved a sigh of dissatisfaction. "But he never paid any attention to me," she complained, underlining her words with accordingly disappointed facial expressions, "Wish he would have, though – I've never seen anybody quite as captivating as him before." As she tapped her chin with her forefinger whilst dreamily gazing at the horizon, Yuffie meant to mimic a devoted fangirl rather proficiently. However, as Hojo's face tended not to betray any emotions – at least not the ones providing any useful information – she wasn't sure whether he was actually buying her acting or not.

Finally he responded with a simple, ambiguous "I see", his watchful gaze never leaving her seemingly romanticising form.

"I wish I could meet him again someday," she went on with a tiny smile on her face that turned into a saddened grimace as soon as she voiced her next words, "But they say he's dead – what a sad fate. He was so young!" She sighed heavily and slipped back into the role of a swarming fan girl, continuing her speech in a more optimistic way, "I wonder whether he would have liked me? Maybe he would even –"

A low chuckle interrupted her daydream, drawing her attention back to the creepy scientist sitting only a few metres in front of her. "I believe your boyfriend's reaction might not be a pleased one if he heard you in this very moment," he informed her.

For the briefest of moments, Yuffie wondered whether the way he was talking to her – neither interested nor bored – meant, he was still suspecting and therefore interrogating her right now. But either way, the best choice was to simply keep playing along. Hence, Yuffie placed a fake grin on her face and chattered on, "Oh, he knows I'm not serious about this. And he accepts that there are other guys beside him, so…"

"But I assume there are not many 'other guys beside him' who are able to walk on the water's surface," Hojo remarked in a rather indifferent manner. By now, he indeed looked somewhat uninterested – but, as Yuffie finally noticed, he only pretended his boredom to mask an increasing interest in this matter. And realizing that she was in fact being interrogated didn't exactly assure her. _Better end this soon,_ she mentally scolded herself, _before I mess up completely._

"Yeah, he is a special man," she told Hojo with a genuine smile, "He regularly manages to surprise me with his astounding qualities!" Then, a light frown crossed her features as she directed Hojo, "However, as far as I know, walking over the water's surface is something he definitely can't do. Nobody can, right?" Apparently deep in thought, she paused for a moment. "However, you _were_ almost drowning out there. Maybe you only imagined things?"

He opened his mouth to respond, yet Yuffie was faster. "Anyway, I hope you're better now," she pressed with a poor imitation of a sympathetic look, "But, as you might have noticed, my _boyfriend_ has just left." She nodded towards town for emphasis. "And I really have to go after him, so if you would excuse me…" Without any further delay, she turned on her heels and sped after Sephiroth, leaving a rather amused Hojo behind.

Whole minutes passed until his gaze finally left her retreating form and he leisurely lay down on his deckchair.

"This is indeed an interesting development," he told his good ole pal, the night, with one of his infamous trademark smirks, "I'd never thought you'd grow affected to her _again_, Sephiroth…"

* * *

Dammit. 

Dammit, dammit, dammit.

That guy, Hojo, had undeniably suspected something. Both of them had covered their real emotions, but Yuffie wasn't naïve enough to assume he had not been able to see through her excuses. After all, he was one of Shinra's rather well-known scientists, wasn't he? So he had to be capable of putting two and two together.

Dammit.

She really shouldn't have hesitated so long. Not only would this have kept her from revealing rather secret details to a mad scientist, but also from losing track of her **_best_** friend again.

Although…

A mere minute ago, she hadn't been referring to him as her **_best_** friend.

But her _boyfriend_.

Of course, back then she had been in _Yuffie Undercover_ mode and tried to act the way a common girl with a boyfriend and an additional crush would.

And after all, it had been Hojo who had started with the whole boyfriend affair, and, as Yuffie knew for sure that Sephiroth wasn't exactly a fan of close relationships, she had simply humoured the professor as a means of distraction.

If ' Leon' was considered her boyfriend, he would never be suspected to be 'Sephiroth'.

Because Sephiroth wasn't a fan of close relationships.  
'Sephiroth' wasn't someone to fall in love easily.  
'Sephiroth' wasn't someone to ever be considered as anybody's boyfriend.

He was simply too unapproachable for this to ever happen, wasn't he? Too introverted, too chilly, too dangerous.

And yet he had proved often enough that beyond his stony façade, his real character, not cruel at all, but righteous and even compassionate, lay hidden. It was this concealed nature of his that made him appear even more lovable, even more _desirable_ to her.

And it was this concealed nature of his that attracted her enough to make her blush at the thought of him as her boyfriend…

She had been wandering through town for half an hour now, struggling with her thoughts while seeking the source of her latest quandary. Yet her current train of thought brought her to a halt.

_He'd make quite an awesome boyfriend_, she acknowledged rather sheepishly as she absent-mindedly sat down on the sales counter of the street stall just behind her, _But…_

A slight feeling of uneasiness as well as confusion settled in her stomach, as she stared at her feet dangling from the counter with an odd fascination. _Just what do I feel for him? _

_Certainly, I like him._ Whenever he was around, she felt safe and comfortable, as though she was meant to be in his presence, not anywhere else. _Yes, I like him. A lot. _

_And I think…_ Five years ago as well as now, he had always seemed to know everything, and there had never been anything he couldn't master. Always had he been a role model for her, someone to look up to. _…I think I even admire him._

_Whenever he isn't around…_ Thinking about the pathetic life she had led for five whole years felt like getting stabbed by thousands of knives simultaneously. She'd never want to return to these days. Never. _Without him, I feel lost._

_So I **am **somewhat…addicted to him._ Smirking dryly at her choice of words, she kept staring at her boots, but strangely enough she didn't seem to notice they were completely covered with dirt and sand. _But does it mean I'm in love?_

_Do I love him?_

_Don't I?_

_Do I?_

_Don't I?_

"Lady, are you alright?"

Turning her head to the left, Yuffie couldn't hide her shock as she perceived the stall's admittedly rather handsome sales clerk watching her worriedly from behind the sales counter. "You are NOT an NPC!" she exclaimed in bewilderment, staring at him with eyes as wide as saucers.

He merely shrugged and politely ignored her rather rude behaviour whilst answering. "NPC vendors are robbed rather easily," he informed her in a surprisingly good-natured way, "Furthermore, they tend not to aid a damsel in distress, even if she happens to sit right on top of the sales counter." He sent a surprisingly kind smile her way. "So how can I help you?"

Immediately, Yuffie blushed. She _had_ got his broad hint and hastily jumped off the sales counter. "I'm sorry," she muttered, grinning sheepishly.

He grinned back. "It's no problem, really," he assured her, "But maybe you'd like to buy something, as a means of indemnification?"

Immediately, her eyebrows shot up. "So that's the way the cookie crumbles," she snarled after a moment of stunned silence, but not without a hint of humour in her voice, "You wanna make me buy your stuff!"

And he wasn't even ashamed of using such a blatant method of luring her into buying something! "You see, purchasing a new piece of materia might lighten up your mood!" the sales clerk told her with a beam so enthusiastic that she felt strangely reminded her of Pierre. "No matter what has occupied you so much that you felt obliged to sit down on my sales counter, a nice little gift can never be the wrong choice – be it for you, or one of your friends…" Suddenly, his beam turned into a mock seductive grin, "…or maybe your boyfriend?"

Yuffie gasped. "I don't," she protested, yet her initially energetic voice shrunk on account her uncertainty as she went on, "…exactly have a boyfriend…!"

"But you wish you did," the sales clerk deduced with a knowing smirk.

Yuffie mumbled a few colourful but thankfully incoherent phrases before readdressing her latest advisor with a frown, "Doesn't anyone?"

"Oh, certainly!" he exclaimed genially, "I've been yearning for a boyfriend ever since I was six. Back then, I realized I was different, but my parents never wanted to accept it and…"

"Oh, stop it!" Yuffie interrupted his joking, but not without a smirk of her own, "You know what I mean – so what if I _do_ want a boyfriend!"

"Why not take me?" he suggested straightforwardly.

By now she had learned to know better than taking his words seriously, hence she simply answered with a halfway apologetic look, "Sorry, you're cute and all, and I really like your charisma…" She paused briefly as their eyes locked. "But you see, we weren't meant to be together… Let's just stay friends, okay?"

Within a second, his hopeful expression turned into a pained one. "But why!" he whimpered in desperation. "Why, Yuffie, why!" Suddenly, his eyes widened. "There's another one, isn't there!" he exclaimed in apparent anger, gesticulating wildly, "Tell me who is it and I'll…"

"Heyheyhey!" Yuffie interrupted him rather forcefully, placing her hand reassuringly onto his shoulder, "It's not what you think…"

"It's not!" he retorted.

"Well," she mumbled, fidgeting uneasily, "There is another boy in my life, but…I don't think he likes me the way I do…"

"Then why do you leave me!" the sales clerk whined dramatically.

"I barely know you!" she yelled back, "But I've known him for practically all my life!"

Suddenly, within a mere wink, the sales clerk ended their little role play by relaxing completely. "Do you love him?" he inquired in an unexpectedly polite and patient manner.

"I…dunno."

"Then maybe you should find out," he told her wisely, "But don't do it in a rush. More often than not does a good night's sleep help making decisions. Get some rest, let things sink in. And maybe tomorrow, things won't appear so confusing anymore."

"I guess that's not even that bad an idea," Yuffie admitted with a slow nod, "Thanks."

"You're welcome," he responded as a grin formed on his face, "And you're sure you don't want to buy anything?"

"Oh, I'm pretty sure," she answered with a small wave and turned to leave.

"Sleep well!" he cheerfully called after her.

"You too," she responded – not quite as enthusiastic, but friendly nonetheless – and eventually trotted towards the Inn, looking forward to a well deserved rest.

And all of a sudden, now that sleep was coming into reach, she realized just how tired she was. Really, she had never presumed a single day could last that long.

So tired.

In fact, she was tired enough not to even notice the bed she had chosen for herself was already occupied;

"Hey!" came a muffled voice from underneath her.

"Sorry, Tiff," she responded half-heartedly and rolled off her comrade without actually leaving the bed. _Darn those tiny little inns… they should know that a total number of three whole beds would never ever be enough._

_…especially not in a holiday resort as popular and crowded as this one…_

Lying on her side, Yuffie's eyes fell shut as she gradually dozed off to the land of dreams.

_...maybe I should tell Seph that I made him my boyfriend…_

_…just to mock him, of course…_

_…or something…_

_…and if Seph doesn't want to…_

_…there are still millions of guys more than willing to date me…_

_…the vendor for example…_

_…oh yeah, he likes me…_

_…I know it…_

_…but I wonder…_

_…how he knew my name…_

End of Chapter Nine

* * *

**A/N:** Okay, guys, I've been trying to think up an adequate apology without sounding utterly pathetic, but ended up finding none. I don't want to spam around with lame excuses here, so if you happen to want to know why it took me three whole weeks to update, just take a look at my profile page. 

Anyway, I'm sorry for the delay, especially since I got so many nice reviews :D

Lots of thanks to TOWTWUKER, ChasingEnlightenment, saharasfury, Chaotic Rei, SOMEONE2003, hearts mechanic, Sonicron, souldriven, Dark Plague of the Phoenix Souls, Kit Thespian and dina! You guys are wonderful – you really helped me through a tough time.

Now, let's come to the obligatory part of this A/N we all have been waiting for: the comments to the chapter!

1) Yuffie isn't dumb, hence she is bound realize things quite early in the story - earlier than what's healthy for the overall plot. That's why I left her questions unanswered - for now.

2) Later in the story, Seph's ability to walk over water/physically change his surroundings to a certain degree is about to play a role (not a major one, but it's still going to occur), so I decided to simply introduce it here. I hope it's understandable why he can do this – certainly, Jenova can control other people's minds and so on, but according to my own definition, she cannot do much else (or else she would already have done it). Mako (respectively materia), on the other hand, can do just about everything – summon bestia, fire, ice, status changes and a lot of other funny things that can physically effect its surroundings. That's why soldiers are so strong and also why Seph can walk over water here. At least in this story, of course ;)  
So, I wanted Sephy to "show off", and Hojo was just in the vicinity, so… yeah.

By the way, this is certainly not meant to be a "Hojo is the devil incarnate fic". I merely see our favourite scientist as a slightly eccentric man who is so devoted to his work that anything else doesn't really count anymore. I made him send Seph to Nibelheim because he wanted to find out how he'd react to Jenova, which is, in my opinion, the only reasonable explanation to why Seph had to go there in the first place – president Shinra knew of Jenova's whereabouts and certainly wouldn't have sent Seph there, if he hadn't been advised to do so.

3) Where the "boyfriend" came from, I don't really know. But well, it does bring a certain development into the story, so I'm just fine with it :p

Anyways, I hope you liked the chapter. I really do! So please, tell me you opinion in a review!

I guess, I'll be able to resume my usual writing rhythm (a chapter every 1-2 weeks), but I cannot promise anything. That's why I've decided to improve my customer service and put a 'progress bar' on my profile page so you can check how much of the new chapter is already done.

Okay, these A/N have already become much longer than they should, so I'll simply stop here.

Thanks for reading and _reviewing!_ :D

Greetings,  
Linnya


	11. Dreams and Gifts and Conversations

**Like The Sun, Like The Moon **

Chapter Ten

WHATEVER **_this _**was…

It was certainly **_not_** the realm Yuffie used to reside in.

Taking a look around, she could easily recognize the scenery of Wutai's outskirts surrounding her – that alone wasn't much of a dilemma, mind you. That she was currently supposed to be sleeping in a cosy inn in a cosy Costa Del Sol, she was completely aware of. But that she'd suddenly awake near her hometown wasn't all that unlikely – after all, she was travelling alongside the embodiment of impossibility – if you were around Mr. I'm-Full-Of-Surprises you had to expect everything.

However, man-sized vegetables with eyes and limbs walking about, chattering vividly in spite of their nonexistent mouths and ears were not necessarily included in this 'everything'.  
At least not according to Yuffie's definition. And that's why, after an indeterminate span of time, she decided this had to be a dream indeed.

Well, it figured. The last thing she remembered was going to bed after all.

But on the other hand, whenever you were dreaming, weren't you supposed not to realize this very fact?

But how would she know? She rarely ever remembered what she had dreamt the night before – if she had dreamt anything at all.

So maybe, she had in fact noticed she had been dreaming several times before, but then she had simply forgotten it?

So this dream was destined to fade into oblivion as well? It would simply disappear as soon as she woke up in the morning?

Then why was she dreaming it in the first place?

Just what point did her mind see in creating some weird scenario, just to erase it a few hours later? Even if it did carry some kind of information – a hidden sort of hint on what she really felt or wanted or…something – this information wasn't of any value as she wouldn't be able to use it later on anyways. Everything left in the end would be a worthless, blurry shadow of what she was perceiving now.

Maybe, if she only tried hard enough to memorize it all, she might be able to remember this dream more clearly, even after awaking.

But…where was the point in it? What use was there in engraining the bizarre cucumber that was currently beaming and waving in her direction if she couldn't quite grasp its meaning?

Maybe…it meant that she was hungry.

Maybe it meant that she should eat more vegetables instead of raw meat?

Or maybe it was meant to be some kind of a reminder. A reminder of the hometown she had abandoned years ago. A reminder of all the things she had planned to improve its condition with – all the plans she had given up before even trying to carry them out.

What a pathetic realization.

But it was true.

And – what was even more stunning – she had just realized this dream was indeed offering her a message. And quite a meaningful one, at that.

Sheesh… Never had she imagined she'd ever be consciously trying to memorize what she was realizing while asleep. Not in her wildest dreams.

Although… how would she know? Hadn't she just come to realize she didn't remember her dreams anyway?

However, she couldn't afford losing the message of this particular dream – she had abandoned her hometown, but now that Sephiroth was back again, there was no reason for her _not_ to finally carry out her plans, was there? She really had to take him to Wutai sometime soon. Really.

And, as luck would have it, this decision started fading slowly but surely into oblivion as soon as she'd made it; all her more or less significant thoughts slipped out of her grasp as wakefulness reclaimed her.

-----------------------------------------------

"Geez, Yuffie, wake up!" a female voice ringed in her ears.

Just WHO was fresh enough to wake her like that! Grumbling audibly, she forced herself to open her eyes.

Standing next to the bed with her hands on her hips, Tifa was staring at Yuffie in a rather reproach manner. "It's noon already, we've really got to go," she informed her and turned to leave.

Once again, Yuffie moaned. So she had overslept. Big deal. But being woken up like that really annoyed her. After all, she had grown accustomed to her own time table, which included getting up as soon as she felt like it. Furthermore, she had just come to an important realization.

About…

Umm…

Yeah.

That's why she liked being dragged out of bed _so much more_ than having a chance to collect her thoughts before she was wandering groggily through a town she only relatively late recognized as Costa Del Sol.

"I've still got to stock up some supplies," Tifa chattered vividly as the reached the central square, "And I suggest you do that, as well." She nodded towards the gates and announce, "In half an hour we'll meet at the town's entrance to travel on. The others are already informed – it's only you who has slept so long." Yuffie frowned, Tifa smiled. "Well, have a nice shopping time!" the latter added with a wave as she turned around and jogged towards one of the stalls, leaving Yuffie somewhat dumbfounded.

"Umm…thanks for the information then," the ninja mumbled after her waking escort before also trotting off to take a look at the vendors' offers. After all, as tempting acting like a spoilt brat in the middle of puberty seemed at the moment, getting some supplies was definitely a _good_ idea. She hadn't exactly had a chance to do so before, since she had left Junon in a rush, only taking the most important of items with her, and she hadn't really been aware that a surprisingly long journey would be lying ahead of her.

So yes, she unquestionably needed some supplies as well as some useful equipment. Hopefully she had brought enough money, but in the worst case, she still had some allies to 'borrow' from, right? Right.

_But before I do anything stupid_, she mused as she absently checked the stalls, _I might as well try to purchase something legally_. She grimaced – for some strange reason, this very thought seemed weird, strangely unreal, to her. _Stealing would be so much more fun…_

She shook her head. _Nono, you don't, _she reprimanded herself,_ show Sephiroth you are a good girl._

As she strolled past a stall filled with particularly valuable goods, she noticed a shiny, highly developed piece of Cure materia lying temptingly on the counter.

_Be a good girl. _

Her eye twitched as she did her best to suppress the overwhelming urge to simply grab it and run off.

_Be a good girl… _

Catching a glimpse at the vendor, she noticed he was occupied sorting the contents of the shelf attached to the stall's back wall while whistling a rather unmelodic yet strangely captivating melody. As his back was currently facing her, he was practically ordering her to steal his goods.

_…a good girl…? _

But then again, if he was in fact ordering her to steal his good, being a good girl actually meant pilfering it instead of leaving it where it belonged, right?

_But somehow I doubt he'll agree with this standpoint. _

Peering at the vendor's back, Yuffie was having a hard time deciding whether to act the way she'd normally prefer or whether not to do just that.

It was strange – normally she wouldn't have those problems.

Normally, she would have been gone long ago, after grabbing the materia at first sight.

So what was it that hindered her?

_…Sephiroth. _

_Great. _

_Just because he's somewhere around here, I get all upset and want to make a good impression on him, is that it? _

_Just great. _

Since when had she allowed such things to affect her behaviour? Since when had she cared what others thought about her?

Certainly, Sephiroth was some kind of an exception in every resort she could think of.

But.

But!

She would certainly **_not_** become someone completely different just because she wanted him to like her.

He already did, anyways – or well, at least he seemed to like her somewhat. So why would she need to impress him?

Really, now more than ever, she had reason enough to simply be herself and steal that damn piece of materia.

"May I help you?"

Unfortunately, her decision-making had taken a tad too long – by now, the vendor had long noticed her presence and turned around to face her. "You seem to be interested in this shiny piece of materia," he stated helpfully as he gestured towards the green orb, "Why don't you take a closer look?"

Yuffie frowned. If he hadn't been daring her to steal the materia earlier, he was definitely doing it now. Was he truly this naïve?

…or maybe he wasn't naïve at all…

Either way, there was unquestionably something fishy about his behaviour, which is exactly why she preferred refusing his generous offer. "You know," she spoke only seemingly hesitantly, "I don't really want it…"

"Then what if I want you to want it?" he responded, almost cutting her off.

"Then you might want to give it to me as a present," she answered critically. Of course she didn't expect him not to take any money for such a valuable piece of materia, but what else was she supposed to answer? "Not interested, thank you" or "I was already considering whether to steal it…" wouldn't have helped at all anyway, especially with such an importunate – or was it helpful? – vendor who, which she was sure of, would stubbornly keep trying to persuade her in any case. After all, she had already dealt with him the night before and could therefore tell he wouldn't surrender easily. Hence, being utterly fresh would bring this conversation much earlier to an end than any other behaviour could.

However, what she had not included in her considerations was the tiny possibility of him indeed humouring her insolent offer – a mistake that soon became her doom.

"So then, milady," he said genially as he grabbed the Cure materia with one hand, took a speechless Yuffie's wrist with the other one and placed the green orb conveniently on her palm, "you're free to take it with you." And without any further words, he turned around to continue his activities in the back of the stall. What exactly he was doing, Yuffie wasn't paying any attention to – instead her gaze lay fixed on the gift he had just given her.

How could he!

The flirting and all, she still considered somewhat manageable. After all, she saw it as some kind of mutual mocking.

**But! **

How could he offer her something as valuable as a four star Cure materia! And, to top it all, he wasn't even really offering it to her – he was practically _forcing_ it upon her!

Forcing!

He was forcing the Great Yuffie to do as he wished!

But if he honestly believed she'd put up with _this_, he was dead wrong!

Oh no, not with her!

She'd simply return the materia, that she would!

Right now!

…

At least that's what she intended to do.

But was her will strong enough to overpower her materia fetish?

_Get a grip, girl!_ she scolded herself, _Your pride is more important than some stupid…mateeeeeriaaa…………… _

For a long moment, she couldn't help but stare at the materia, studying its captivatingly shimmering, green surface while inwardly arguing with herself whether to keep it or not.

It was indeed not an easy decision.

Not at all.

_Materia… _

_Self-esteem… _

_Materia… _

_Self-esteem… _

_Materia… _

_Self-esteem… _

_Materia… _

_Oh sheesh! _

Yuffie sighed.

In times like these, she really wished there was some kind of flower in the nearness. It would make her decision so much easier.

But nooooo, she wasn't granted such luck this time.

So what now? Obviously, continuing her inner struggles wouldn't do – hence, she decided to simply imagine a flower.

One with five petals, so it wouldn't last too long.

Alrighty then…

Granted, the flowery mixture of a rose and an orchid she had just developed in her mind looked somewhat unnatural, but as besides her no one could see it anyway, she didn't exactly mind.

_Self-esteem… _Four petals left.

_Materia…_ Three.

_Self-esteem…_ Two.

_Materia…_ One. _Ouch, I already see where this is going…_

_Self-esteem. _

…

_Next time I should take a flower with six petals… _

Sighing audibly, Yuffie shook her head. _But I really can't let him get away with this. _

_Exactly! _

_The flower is right:  
I certainly WON'T throw away my pride just because of a cheap piece of materia – What would I need it for anyway? My Enemy Skill is so much more useful!_

The anger her thoughts were propelling her into was anything but unwelcome to her – on the contrary, this newfound fury gave her the mental strength to overcome the desire to simply keep the materia and finally put an end to her inner debate. Looking up after her seemingly eternal decision making, Yuffie spat without any further ado, "I don't need –"

And then she abruptly stopped. Her eyes widened, her brows knitted into a frown as she saw the smug way the vendor was watching her – which he'd probably been doing for a quite a while now.

"Hey!" she hissed in utter annoyance, "I don't want –"

"Oh, you do want it," he interrupted her calmly, not as kind as earlier but still strangely persistent, "And what you also want is…" And within a blink and a grin, he pulled something out of his sleeve that oddly resembled…

"A fan?" Yuffie asked incredulously.

"A weapon," he corrected as he placed the long, black item into her remaining, free hand, "The so called Wind Slash – especially for you."

"You serious?" she asked, mystified, as she opened the fan to observe it thoroughly. "It's really a weapon!" she finally exclaimed in excited disbelief, "I can't believe it!"

"And it's all yours now," the vendor added with a smirk.

This statement immediately redirected her attention to the vendor. "I can't take this, thank you," she announced as firmly as her current state of inner struggles allowed her to as she placed both fan and materia back onto the counter – with shaky hands, mind you, but at least she succeeded in overcoming her avarice somewhat, which was already a great accomplishment in itself.

"But if you don't want it, somebody else will buy it," the vendor went on smoothly, apparently undisturbed by her 'strict' refusal as he decided to simply try out another procedure, "and that somebody else might be someone not quite as skilled and worthy as you."

Eyeing him critically, Yuffie decided better _not_ to respond to that.

Apparently, her response (or rather the lack thereof) had the desired effect – during all those many hours she had already known the vendor, she hadn't seen him sighing once. Up until now, that is: Exhaling deeply and somehow resigned, the man behind the counter seemed to finally accept his defeat. "Oh well," he spoke with an almost unperceivable kind of disappointment in his voice as he took both materia and fan from the counter, "If there's no way around it, then I assume I'll have to keep them."

If his sudden change of attitude had any effect on her, it was only making her more suspicious. "Just like that?" Yuffie asked with a frown.

"Just like that," he answered with a sigh.

And eventually, she allowed herself to let a grin spread on her face. "So you finally acknowledge I'm not that easy, huh?" she mocked him rather smugly.

"It's not that," he replied with a shrug, "I just came to the realization that this fan suits me so much better than you anyway." With that and a sly smirk, he grabbed a few further items from beneath the sales counter and stuffed them into his pockets. Only then he looked back at Yuffie, expectantly. "Are you ready yet?" he asked in that weird, confusingly nonchalant tone he had adapted only a moment ago.

Naturally, his change in demeanour managed to baffle the ninja in front of him into a momentary speechlessness. "Excuse me?" she finally uttered with a disbelieving frown.

For a long and absurdly mystifying moment, his only reaction was a mere sigh. And, surprisingly, this particular moment unnerved Yuffie enough for her not to even get annoyed at his next words.

"I was asking whether you were ready yet, princess," he spoke somewhat mockingly, "the others are waiting."

Instead of getting angry, she happened to become rather grateful that he had given her an answer at all – which, for Yuffie, was both a confusing and untypical sensation, especially when it came to dealing with such an ordinary vendor...  
In fact, there was only one person on this whole planet who could cause such a feeling of uneasiness, and, considering his last statement, she realized her intuition had to be right.

And that meant………

As he stepped out of the street stall, Yuffie couldn't see the vendor anymore – but instead a mostly indifferent Leon watching her attentively. "Come on, let's go," he said and stepped past her as he slowly trotted towards the town's entrance; wary to stress he wasn't willing to wait any longer, but careful not to let her stay behind at the same time.

And indeed, she kept gaping after him for several minutes before fully grasping the bitter truth – but when she finally did, an inescapable anger flamed up inside of her within an instant.

"How dare you!" she yelled as she stomped after her so called best friend, loudly enough for anybody within a radius of ten miles to hear her, "It's bad enough to be flirted with like that, but…**but**…**BUT** to find out it's _YOU_ is the most _HORRIBLE_ thing I could ever think of!" Obviously just to catch some breath, she made a tiny little pause. She did notice the smirk that was slowly creeping its way onto his face, but, frankly spoken, she could care less. Because right now, nothing – absolutely nothing! – was more important to her than teaching her best friend some manners. "You may have some GREAT and SPECIAL powers," she yelled on once she had finally caught up on him and placed herself demonstratively in front of Leon, "But that doesn't _quite_ give you the right to deceive me and make fun of me and taunt me and – most awfully – spy on me like _that!_" In order to underline her anger, she made a meaningful pause before voicing her final words in one, furious yell. "How DARE you!"

What followed was a long, tensed moment of utter silence – save the noises of seagulls, waves and playing children, but neither Yuffie nor Leon really minded those.

For that, she was far too occupied staring him down.

For that, he was far too occupied concealing his amusement – granted, he was failing greatly, but at least he was _trying_ not to smirk. This had to be worth something, too, didn't it?

"You were practically daring me to tease you, you know," he finally spoke once he had successfully subdued his urge to smirk, "After all, you decided to take a seat right on my sales counter. In my opinion, I have every right to do what I do."

Even after her jaw had hit the floor, Yuffie couldn't help but stare incredulously at the man who didn't seem to mind her wrath at all. "You have every right to do what you do!" she hissed in utter disbelief, "Since when have you been the one to define the law!"

Merely shaking his head with a small, surrendering smile, Sephiroth decided not to respond to the ninja's enraged ramblings, but to continue his way towards the town's gates wordlessly instead – which managed to infuriate the said ninja only further.

"You know what!" she snapped as she noisily stomped after him, once again catching the attention of just about everyone standing nearby in the process, "With that always distanced and oh so COOL attitude of yours, I'm not surprised you don't have many friends!"

Watching the girl that was currently trying to glare him down out of the corner of his eyes, Leon responded rather wearily, "And I am supposed to lament this fact? Not regarding the irony that you of all people happen to criticise my demeanour in such a way – if I intended to have many friends, I _would_ have many friends, that much I guarantee you."

For the briefest of moments, his words rendered her speechless. His somewhat insulted tone wasn't only causing a guilty feeling in her stomach, but also making her aware just what she had just said. Offending him like that…it must have felt like a slap in the face. And yet, he had reacted calmly, a bit insulted maybe, but not really angry – and that's what worried her even more than an enraged Sephiroth would have.

"I didn't mean to offend you," she finally began in a strangely strangled voice as she struggled to find the right words, "But I just can't understand it…"

"Understand what?" he inquired after a further moment of silence.

"Understand that…" she began uneasily, "Understand that you never seem to care…"

He sighed.

"You see? That's what I mean," she 'interrupted' him in slight annoyance, gesticulating rather wildly. "Why do you never allow anything to reach you? No matter what I do – no matter what _anyone_ does, for that matter – you only sigh, or don't react at all. Instead, you always keep your thoughts for yourself, and this way nobody knows what to do with you. Just how am I supposed to act around you if I don't know what's in your mind?"

And once again, he sighed. "Believe me, girl," he answered rather dryly, yet without the slightest hesitation, "if you knew just what's on my mind, you would have an even harder time deciding how to act around me."

Momentarily bewildered by her friend's words, Yuffie couldn't help but blink after him as he continued walking towards the town's gates, where she realized Cloud and his gang were already waiting. "Just what is this supposed to mean!" she finally exclaimed, exhausted by his permanent evasions. Why couldn't he simply tell her what she wanted to hear? It would make things so much easier for both of them.

Nonetheless he stayed stubborn. "I said exactly what I meant," he stated somewhat indignantly and eventually turned his attention to the five people waiting for them. The fact that three of them – the clone, the Cetra as well as the barely clothed girl – were currently occupied juggling materia did indeed cause his right eyebrow to creep upwards a bit, but beyond that, he decided not to comment on this rather unique hobby of theirs. Instead, he simply greeted them with a curt, nonchalant nod and asked, "Ready, everyone?"

Everything he received as an answer was five silent yet meaningful nods – as well as the shattering sound of two falling pieces of support materia.

Only when he had picked up his broken Elementals and eventually given up his vain attempts to fix them, Cloud noticed everyone's attention was focused on him. Scratching the back of his head with one hand while inconspicuously stuffing the whitish shards into his pockets with the other one, the ex-Soldier started laughing nervously. "Okay then," he eventually managed with a miraculously newfound zest for action, "let's mosey!"

Interrupting the polite silence of frowns and rolling eyes that followed their leader's…umm…let's call it…enthusiastic battle cry, Yuffie decided to express her criticism. "'scuce me, captain," she spoke in a rather doubtful tone, "but do we even have a heading yet?"

Shocked by her sudden complaint, Cloud eyed her as though she'd grown a second head.

"I mean, as far as I know, Sephiroth – the guy we seem to be after," Yuffie continued indignantly, "could still be in town." Here, she made a meaningful pause before continuing, "And who knows just _how twisted_ his mind really is – maybe he's even here with us right now…"

Unlike said former General, who was currently eyeing her in an absurdly curious kind of disapproval, the others were frowning at her in utter confusion. To fully savour the pleasantly stunned silence caused by her mystifying speech, Yuffie paced gracefully through the little gang, whispering a halfway annoyed "That's what you get for annoying me like this." into her currently not-so-silver-haired friend's ear as she passed him to stand next to the wolfish beastie she had admittedly taken quite a fancy to.

As she then whirled back to face the rest of the group, she was a bit disappointed to see Leon's disapproving frown turning into another of his amused smirks. Although… did she really want to upset him to satisfy her thirst for revenge? No…not really. An encounter with a truly angry Sephiroth, she had to realize, would be one of the few things she'd prefer not to experience.

But on the other hand…annoying him might be the only way to make him loosen up a bit. Yet was she really willing to take this risk?

Naturally!

It wasn't really _that_ much of a risk anyway, she figured. Certainly, she had heard awful stories about the way he had won his victories in battle, but ever since she had known him, she had never met his cruel side. If it even existed. Which she highly doubted anyway.

In fact, she knew him to be far nicer than he let on.

And that's why she decided that teasing him a bit more might improve his…social qualities.

Definitely.

But not right now.

Before daring any further pranks, Yuffie wanted to find out how Leon was going to wind his way out of this potential misery. She had given them a clue – a hint as broad as the ocean. Now they'd only have to put two and two together and then they'd find out…unless her dearly beloved Sephiroth prevented them from drawing any unwanted conclusions.

Nonetheless, he merely stood there.

Without doing anything.

And somehow, he apparently wasn't about to do anything, either.

Finally, the silence was broken. But strangely enough neither by Sephiroth nor Yuffie. It wasn't even Cloud or Aerith, but instead…

"No…" the big guy with the machine gun, ironically referred to as _Barrett_, finally mumbled with a hesitant shake of his head, "Sephiroth can't be among us. One of the sailors watched him leavin' town a few hours ago."

"The sailor mentioned Sephiroth was headed westwards," Aerith continued, "So I take it that's where we're headed to, either."

"Ah."

This was everything Yuffie managed to choke out after a moment of stunned silence. And, what was even worse than her current state of doubtfulness and utter confusion, she could practically feel Sephiroth's smirking gaze on her skin, even though she wasn't quite looking in his direction. Oh, it was simply unnerving! Just why where those guys dumb enough not to question anything of all the nonsense they were told!

While her annoyance was demanding the better part of her attention, their group finally began moseying its hard and strenuous way towards where they reckoned Sephiroth had gone to – which, of course, was complete nonsense considering they were currently travelling _with_ him rather than after him.

But never mind that.

…

Just don't.

"Let me guess," Yuffie snarled as she eventually followed suit, joining the train right next to Sephiroth as one of the last to pace along, "You had three hours of sleep this night. At the very most."

He raised an eyebrow.

"With all the preparations you have undoubtedly…prepared," she went on, eyeing him somewhat reproachfully, "I bet you are prepared for just anything – but haven't slept much either."

"Yuffie…"

"You know, you really look tired," she mothered on, not minding his protest in the slightest, "You really ought to give yourself a break from time to time. With only those few hours of sleep –"

"This is none of your business," he informed her firmly.

"– it's no wonder you're always grumpy and…" Once his words had fully registered, Yuffie's speech came to an abrupt halt. Finally, her eyes narrowed. "All I do is caring about you," she whispered indignantly, "And that's your way of thanking me?"

"No," he countered as he skilfully pulled a certain fan out of his sleeve and offered it to her, "_This_ is my way of thanking you."

Eyeing him in surprise, Yuffie opened her mouth.

And closed it again.

Eventually she snatched the fan out of his grasp and barked a "Thank you!" in his general direction before averting her face from him. Nonetheless, she kept watching him out of the corner of her eye.

"You really know when to play your aces, don't you…" she muttered in fake annoyance.

"And you really know how to be predictable," he responded with a chuckle.

"I don't!" she protested immediately, but suddenly she furrowed her eyebrows and corrected herself, "Err… I do!" Then, after clearing her throat, she added, "But I don't use that knowledge very often!"

"You are blushing," Sephiroth stated matter-of-factly, yet nonetheless with a small smile.

"I ain't!" she protested, which, of course, only caused her to flush further.

"No need to be flustered," he laughed.

…

"You know," she finally barked, "Let's just _walk on_." And all of the sudden, the back of Barret, who happened to be strolling right in front of her, seemed much more interesting than her current conversation.

"My thoughts exactly," Sephritoh agreed.

And so they walked in silence, watching the inhumanly broad back of one Barret in some kind of sick fascination all the while.

End of Chapter Ten

---------------------------------------------------

A/N: Guess what? I'm still alive! (Hears a few people gasp in surprise) Yeah, I can't believe it myself: I actually managed to update xD

First things first: I've really got to apologize. I wish I hadn't taken half an eternity, but the chapter just didn't want to turn out the way I wanted it to. Now, after some time has passed, I consider it somewhat agreeable, and since any further editing won't help much either, I think it's as finished as it will ever get, so... Yeah. I still hope you liked it :D

So now, I'd like to thank all those kind people who took the time and effort to review this little fic of mine: Dark Plague of the Phoenix Souls, saharasfury, YUfFiE RoXs!yAy, Chaotic Rei, TOWTWUKER, SAMPSON12187, Sonicron, TerrisMoon, FuschiaFinn, SesshomaruKnight and RaincoatSammy - thanks for all the wonderful reviews!

And as we're already at it - special thanks go to saharasfury for waking me from the Naruto- and Silkroad-induced stupor otherwise referred to as "summer vacation". It's shocking how unproductive I've become, but hopefully I'll regain my ability to do anything besides "nothin in particular" once school starts again. Hopefully. Ahem.

Now, about the next chapter: Since, whenever I promised you to update soon, I didn't quite manage doing so, I shall simply omit the forecast this time, in the vain hope that I, if I don't promise anything, might be able to update relatively soon for once. Hopefully. Ahem.

So anyway, I'll do my best to update in time this time (coughs) - until then, you might want to voice your opinion about this chapter/story in form of a review! As you might have noticed, I'm alway grateful for those :D

Bye for now & Greetings,  
Linnya


	12. Let's Talk It Out

**Like The Sun, Like The Moon**

Chapter Eleven

Under a pitch-black sky filled with tiny, shiny stars, the shimmering blaze of a huge bonfire was the only source to light the otherwise dim town set at the cliff of an enormous canyon. The warm shades of red it cast onto its surroundings created a calm and relaxed atmosphere among the eight persons seated around it – and yet, the heavy silence that had fallen many moments ago only improved this mood insofar as it added an austere, even creepy undertone to it that disabled every kind of relaxation completely, despite the warmth radiated by the bonfire.

Seven pairs of eyes were more or less attentively watching the blond fighter they had unhesitatingly proclaimed their leader quite a while ago, on account of his _special experiences_ as well as his _special knowledge_ – and yet, regardless of the magnificent qualities that had made him the captain of the crew, this very same blond fighter had now remained silent far longer than what could have been considered a pause for stress.  
It only occurred when most members of his clique had already quit expecting him to say anything that he finally resumed speaking.

"And this is **my** reason for chasing Sephiroth."

His voice was low, his tone was grave.  
And his listener's reactions proved his speech had made an impression – arched and furrowed eyebrows all around – even if not a good one…

"Spikey, darling," Yuffie eventually pointed out in the most conciliatory tone she could muster in this situation, "You haven't exactly…"

Cloud eyed her questioningly.

"…told us anything…"

Cloud furrowed his eyebrows.

"…at all…"

Cloud's reaction to Yuffie's statement was unmistakable: his left eye widened in surprise, his right one narrowed in disbelief, forming half a frown at last, while on the other end of his face, his mouth adopted a wavering, indefinite shape of utter indecision.

Finally, he turned to his remaining team-mates, seeking assistance in each of their faces, but finding none after all. Only then he admitted defeat, straightened from his half sitting, half lying position on the bonfire's little platform and began – who would have guessed? – scratching the back of his head in a mock-apologetic fashion. "I'm not a good story-teller, you see," he laughed awkwardly, "And I don't really feel like explaining all this stuff over and over again…" As he realized his companions were not quite satisfied with his excuse, he quickly cleared his throat and went on, "I mean, our group's been growing and growing and growing and growing and growing – and always it's _poor ole me _–" For two meaningful seconds, both his index fingers were pointed at himself. "– who has to do the explaining!" And with that, he stuck out his lower lip, crossed his arms and legs and voila! The fountain of youth was found – the fearsome, adult leader of AVALANCHE had successfully outwitted the normally unavoidable process of aging by changing into a small, pouting child.

At least that's what it looked like.

In reality – as shocking as it may sound – he was still the very same adult that had been sitting at this very same spot the moment before, only with the slight difference that, at the moment, he was pouting. And this certain, annoying pout made him – supposedly adult – appear more bratty than even Yuffie – on her worst days.

As this realization hit him, Sephiroth, still in the disguise of Leon, began to wonder just what kind of mess he had gotten himself into. When he had first realized that this journey was an inevitable mission only he could master, he had quickly accepted it as his obligation and ever since then, he had never missed a single chance to get a step closer to his aim.

However, seeing the clueless expression on the face of the very man he'd have to entrust certain parts of his mission with, Sephiroth suddenly wasn't that sure anymore whether he'd indeed be able to fulfil his duty.

Certainly, fighting didn't necessarily require too much intelligence – especially in a world that disabled an eventual, finite death by providing countless lives and a restricted amount of choices in battle – and anyways, the blond at least had something to compensate for his obvious lack of brains; brute strength and agility were what really mattered against strong foes and, judging from a quick glance at Cloud's status menu, Sephiroth could tell that, mysteriously, the chocobo head was indeed improving those qualities steadily and even somewhat quickly.

So maybe, there was still hope.

And maybe – unlikely but still possible – Cloud might even develop something akin to a brain during their remaining journey if his fellow travellers could afford both time and endurance to teach the guy some thinking.

_Hm…might be worth a try…_ Sephiroth mused as he once again focused on their so called leader, who was still sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of the bonfire. But thankfully, and not without a little, cheery help on Aerith's part, Cloud had stopped pouting and surrendered.

"Alright then," the blond eventually spoke in a surprisingly composed manner, yet not without a hint of reproach in his voice, "I'm gunna tell the story again – but no interruptions!"

* * *

Under a pitch-black sky filled with tiny, shiny stars, the shimmering blaze of a huge bonfire was the only source to light the otherwise dim town set at the cliff of an enormous canyon. The warm shades of red it cast onto its surroundings created a calm and relaxed atmosphere among the eight persons seated around it – and yet, the heavy silence that had fallen many moments ago only improved this mood insofar as it added an austere, even creepy undertone to it that disabled every kind of relaxation completely, despite the warmth radiated by the bonfire. 

Seven pairs of eyes were more or less attentively watching the blond fighter they had unhesitatingly proclaimed their leader quite a while ago, on account of his _special experiences_ as well as his _special knowledge_ – and yet, despite the magnificent qualities that had made him the captain of the crew, this very same blond fighter had now remained silent far longer than what could have been considered a pause for stress.

It only occurred when most members of his clique had already quit expecting him to say anything that he finally resumed speaking.

"And this is **my** reason for chasing Sephiroth."

His voice was low, his tone was grave.

And – finally! – his listeners reacted the way he had intended them to: Everyone was silent, faces downcast, brooding over all those formerly unknown details and connections Cloud's speech had finally enlightened them about. His unexpectedly detailed version of the Nibelheim incident as well as its repercussions rendered even the party's most talkative members speechless – which, certainly, didn't keep the most reticent one from raising his voice.

"So if I understand correctly," Leon's low voice pierced the silence, "your main objective is to _save the Planet?_" At this, he snorted ever so silently. "Quite a noble goal, if you ask me – but what I don't get is to what extend you assume Sephiroth to be connected to all this."

Even though he could hear Yuffie's incredulous gasp from next to him, he didn't bother taking a look at the questioning glance she was undoubtedly sending him, but was content with staring down their blond guide instead.

Their blond guide who didn't quite feel addressed, I may add. Looking anywhere but at his friends, Cloud reminded them once again – more or less consciously – that he wasn't known for his eloquence.

"Sephiroth is the best lead we have right now," Tifa finally took over after scowling at her still oblivious childhood friend, "He used to be with the Shinra and now, he suddenly shows up again, only to _kill their president_."

At this, Yuffie flinched slightly. Certainly, Cloud had enlightened them about most things that had happened so far, but the thought of Sephiroth slaughtering that not-so-poor old man gave her the creeps nonetheless. While wondering whether she should take part in the conversation or not, she made it her business to chew on the straw that was the only thing left of the Caipirinha she had earlier made Sephiroth buy.

_"I don't know what you think about this," Tifa went on, "but I for one can't think of a good reason for him to do so."_

It had been really nice of him, really.

_"He's got to be insane!"_

After all, she hadn't even needed to force him or anything – she had merely had to ask him a dozen of times and already had he given in.

_"We've already seen," Tifa rambled on, "or rather heard of what he did in Nibelheim."_

_So since he's been kind enough to buy me some alcohol_, Yuffie reasoned, _why shouldn't I return the favour?_

_"I can't deny that he's strong," Tifa admitted somewhat ruefully, "possibly stronger than all of us together."_

Honestly: she'd only voice her thoughts because she felt obliged to defend her friend – not because she wanted to know more about him or his motives or whatever further curiosities he might be hiding – oh no, her reason was a completely selfless one, as usual.

_"Still we've got to stop him."_

But before her inner struggles were lasting too long, Yuffie decided it was best to take the initiative before it was too late and to speak as soon as she had the chance.

_"Because he's definitely a serious threat to the Planet," Tifa concluded. Finally._

"Killing people ain't a good thing, alright," Yuffie responded with a light shrug, "But since the Shinra are the bad guys here…shouldn't we be kinda grateful Sephiroth killed that old geezer?" In fact, this had been everything she wanted to say, but a light twitch of Tifa's right eye reminded her to go more into detail, or else her words might be easily gotten wrong.

_Oh well, people tend to draw different conclusions from the same clues_, she told herself wisely and sighed. "What I'm trying to say is…" she began awkwardly, careful not to choose her words too inappropriately, "Whatever happened in Nibelheim…is really……bad." Watching an angry Tifa rather nervously, Yuffie cleared her throat. She herself preferred not to form much of an opinion about this incident before she had heard both versions, but talking about Nibelheim if two, or rather three, of the assembled had been directly affected by it certainly wasn't an easy thing.

Oh well, at least _Sephiroth and Cloud_ weren't about to crush her ribs if she said the wrong thing… At least she hoped so…

"But you see," Yuffie finally went on after a rather long pause of preoccupied straw-chewing, "it happened five years ago, and five years are a long time. A lot can happen in five years. And, umm, you might not believe it…" At this, she leant forward and lowered her voice to a mere whisper, "…but people _can actually **change**._"

"Just look at me!" Straightening once more, she pointed at herself, "I went through all puberty in five years! And now, I'm much calmer, wiser and more knowledgeable!" Noting the suppressed chuckle coming from Leon was, quite surprisingly, the loudest one, Yuffie tried her best not think much of it. Her current task was much more important after all! "You see, we don't quite know just what he's been doing these past years," she went on rather insistently. "Maybe he's been plotting to destroy earth," she guessed with a shrug, "Maybe he's been working at a souvenir shop in Costa del Sol all the time. Who knows?"

Settling back into the comfortable albeit cross-legged position she had been in earlier, she casually took the straw out of her mouth and twirled it around her fingers. "I don't know enough to judge his past self, but his latest actions aren't too wicked, are they?"

And once again, or rather still, she received several doubtful glances from just about every direction – and a death glare in Tifa's case. "I mean, he killed their president," Yuffie began once again, stealing a glance at Leon's rather blank face every now and then. "In that one Simpson episode, they only had to get rid of the main zombie in order to turn everyone back to normal," she explained with a wild combination of bemusingly ninja-esque gestures, "So, with their president gone, all those Shinra lackeys might actually realize what horrible things they've been doing all this time!" When finally, realization dawned upon most faces, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's right, they _might_," Red agreed from the sidelines, "But we can't expect everyone to stop enjoying the luxury of Mako energy. Therefore, killing the president won't help much on the long run. He'll simply be substituted with someone else, possibly someone much more immoral."

Half of the troupe nodded in grave agreement, half of them frowned in light confusion – and of course, none of the latter ones were about admit they were confused.

Except for Yuffie, that is.

Certainly, she had just rediscovered the joy of chewing on her straw, but never mind that…

If the others weren't brave enough, she would be the one to voice the problem, "If it's so useless, then why kill the president at all?" In all actuality, this question was directed at Sephiroth, aka Leon, rather than anyone else. But as luck would have it, said question was apparently the only one answered "easily" this evening.

"Yeah, why kill him?" Tifa repeated airily and went on in a much more foreboding kind of voice, "Old Shinra used to be his boss." Looking around meaningfully, not to mention dangerously, she made a short pause. "Many people would love to kill their bosses, to be sure – but only those who've finally lost it would ever do such a thing."

"Maybe he just realized Shinra's true intentions?" Yuffie suggested, fumbling innocently at her straw.

And all of a sudden, she noticed rather painfully just _which_ straw she had been chewing on.

This had been the last straw.

And within half a second, all hell broke loose.

Quite literally so.

"Just why are you defending him?!" Tifa exploded, jumping up in the same fashion volcanoes tend to erupt: sudden, forceful, deadly. "You don't know anything!" she roared as she stomped around the not-so-bon-fire and came to a boiling halt before the trembling form of Yuffie, "And still you dare to defend him!" As she was towering over her defenceless victim – to said victim only visible as a deadly black silhouette thanks to the hellfire behind her – it wasn't difficult to mistake Tifa with the devil. "You've heard our story – WHY?!"

Like the devil indeed.

And for a while, they stood, respectively cowered, without any further movement.

The tension between the two was so incredible not even Cloud's excited "Catfight!" could break it.

Not even when he yelled it for a second time.

Or a third time.

Or when Barett joined in.

Or when they composed a song out of it that vaguely sounded like those questionable Christmas songs barked by dogs.

Or when they…

"I wasn't defending him, really!" Yuffie finally piped up, pleading The Devil for forgiveness with the hugest, cutest and most persuasive puppy dog eyes she could muster – and all of a sudden, the Devil turned back into Tifa.

A surprised version of her, one may add.

"You weren't," she choked in bewilderment.

"I don't know much about that matter yet," Yuffie justified herself as she carefully and slowly skidded far enough backwards to be out of hell's reach, "I really didn't mean to offend you. Honestly! But I'd like to actually _know_ _why_ we are fighting _whom_, you know?"

Finally, Tifa's devilish grimace melted into an apologetic look of compassion. "Oh Yuffie, I'm sorry!" she exclaimed as she bent down in front of the ninja, placing her hands on her team-mate's shoulders in a surprisingly conciliatory way. "I didn't mean to flip out right now," she whispered sadly, "It's just that Sephiroth and what he did at Nibelheim…coined my whole life. In this matter, I just can't keep a clear head." She laughed humourlessly and placed a fake smile on her face. "But it's good that some of us aren't as prejudiced. This way we can find more ways to settle whatever problems might arouse."

Unsure what to do, Yuffie contented herself with smiling back wordlessly.

And somewhere in the far, far distance, Cloud's disappointed whimper could be heard. "…No catfight?"

Certainly, a quick smack in the gut might have snapped the blond out of his depression rather neatly, but for some mysterious reason, Tifa decided against it and sat down instead. On the very same spot Yuffie had just now cleared.

_Oh great, now she's mistaken my fear for a peace offer_, the ninja frowned, realizing in slight dismay that she no longer sat directly next to Leon._And I bet he's been enjoying himself greatly just now_, she added as an afterthought.

And suddenly, she wasn't angry about not sitting next to him anymore.

Not at all!

"So basically," Yuffie summarized after a short pause, "we're just following Sephy around to stop him from whatever evil he is planning?"

"That's right," Tifa nodded enthusiastically. "We can't exactly do much against the Shinra right now, but concerning them, we at least know what we are dealing with. But concerning Sephiroth…"

"…we don't know what we're up against," Cloud concluded bitterly, "That's why we've at least got to ask him."

Completely taken by surprise, Yuffie choked. "It's taken quite a while to make you spill this information, you know?!" she exclaimed helplessly and stole a quick glance at Leon who barely seemed able to believe his sudden luck as well.

And as if his former statement hadn't already been enough to enthral his listeners, Cloud decided to speak on still. "I used to admire him, but then…" he told them in an uncharacteristically sad, almost desperate voice, "I don't understand him anymore…I need to know what he's thinking."

Without realizing it at first, Yuffie suddenly found herself gaping. So their guide wasn't as shallow a fellow as she'd originally thought after all! However, she didn't have a chance to celebrate this revelation – because, as much as she enjoyed Cloud showing human feelings as well as some kind of intellect, watching him like that both depressed and unnerved her. The poor guy must have suffered a lot…

She exchanged glances with Leon, but didn't manage to get her message across. _Maybe_ you_ should cheer him up_, she wanted to say.

But it would have to wait until later on…

"Apropos…"

Everyone's attention shifted to the inconspicuous wolf in their midst. "We may not be able to understand his reasons for doing so, but I am rather interested in that creature Sephiroth seems to be carrying around," Red calmly spoke in his deep voice as he turned his head in the general direction of Yuffie and Leon, "When we first met you, you claimed to be following this _Jenova_ rather than Sephiroth himself – I wonder why."

This time, everyone's eyes turned to Yuffie.

She sighed._Why is it always the more open-minded ones who have to answer all questions?_ she wondered in light annoyance and decided to hand on the question. "Yeah, why are we following this Jenova thingy, _Leon_?" she demanded rather noisily, glaring at her friend so that everyone else would look at him as well.

If he sensed her annoyance, or her resulting urge to _be_ annoying, he certainly didn't show it. "Well, _guys_," he began rather pleasantly, "My father used to work as a scientist at Shinra's laboratories. This way I received, more or less willingly, quite a lot of restricted information." Being the nonchalant gentleman he was, he didn't exactly react to the somewhat disbelieving gazes he was receiving and plainly went on, "I never really bothered digesting everything properly, mainly because I never needed to. But when I heard last week that Jenova had vanished, I realized that something better prevented is about to happen."

"Your father told you about Jenova, then?" Red inquired.

"It is considered the most dangerous threat the Planet had ever faced," Leon explained with a slight nod and looked up at the starry sky, "Thousands of years ago, it landed on this earth and infected its inhabitants with evil. Eventually it was defeated by the few Ancients that had survived its malevolence and fell into a deep slumber, but…"  
"But it was reawakened," Yuffie concluded in a dry voice.

"Yes," Leon answered with a little nod and looked around to observe his listeners' reactions. "About thirty years ago, scientists found it buried in ice and dug it out," he informed them rather tonelessly, "They mistook it for an ancient and decided to bring it back to life – and by that action, they caused evil to spread once more."

Silence.

"Isn't that a bit…far-fetched?" Barrett finally remarked rather huskily.

At this, Leon merely shrugged. "If you think about it, it does explain quite a lot," he responded, "For example, the generation and usage of Mako Energy were discovered around that time."

"Yes, I remember," the odd cat they had somehow ended up picking up at the Gold Saucer suddenly added, "About then Shinra gained most of its influence."

"Thanks to the war," Yuffie concluded darkly.

"You mean there's never been war before the one in Wutai?" Barredt wondered aloud.

"It's true," Aerith agreed in slight astonishment, "I've always wondered why people have become so greedy and…war-obsessed all of a sudden."

"You see?" Leon spoke firmly, "There are way too many facts for it to be a mere coincidence." Propping his elbows on his knees, he leant a bit forward as he went on, "One way or the other, Jenova caused many people's miseries and… who knows what it's going to do if let loose?" He waited for a moment to let his words sink in and finally voiced his final conclusion. "I for one am not keen on knowing, so I'd love to get rid of it before it can do any more damage."

"You mean Jenova's the true antagonist," Yuffie inquired with a frown, "and Sephy is only some kind of evil pawn?"

"If I could tell you what role Sephiroth is playing in this game, I would certainly do so," Leon responded flatly, and yet he managed to stress the "roth" in such an indignant albeit barely perceivable manner that only those who were used to his unnerving nonchalance – namely Yuffie – would notice it. "But since I currently can't," he went on smoothly, "I am sorry to disappoint you."

Even though about a thousand more or less appropriate retorts flashed through her mind at this very moment, the ninja contended herself with eye-twitching her friend for evading the topic so shamelessly. She had, to be sure, learnt more about him, his past and his so called mission during the last few hours than during seven freaking years of knowing him – but that didn't necessarily mean it had to make sense.

Finding out about the blood-thirsty villain everyone believed him to be didn't exactly help uncovering the truth, for she knew what he was really like: He might appear cold and detached, he might not talk much. His rather dry humour and deadpanning tended to turn people nervous rather than amuse them – which, Yuffie guessed, was fully intended – but he just couldn't be considered as frightening and evil as her new friends seemed to think.

Not quite.

She might not have witnessed it too often and yet had he demonstrated her often enough that he genuinely _cared_. He had simply decided not to let that surface very often, which she could fully understand, considering his unique character.

What she didn't understand, however, was just why he kept pretending to be the exact opposite of what he truly was. It felt as though he was purposely making Cloud and company believe he was the devil himself.

And Yuffie wanted to know why.

Therefore she would definitely take him at his word – once the others would be out of earshot, he would be able to tell her.

And then she would definitely make him do it.

End of Chapter Eleven

* * *

A/N: I humbly apologize for taking so long, and as I'm already at it, I humbly apologize for this chapter's missing action as well. I'm not exactly fond of explanatory chapters at all (which is partly a reason for it taking so long), but any kind of story needs them. So well, with this one I tried to clarify a bit of what anyone was aiming at. In a way. Oh well, I hope you weren't too bored ;P 

Anyways, next chapter, there'll be a lot more action and a lot more Sephy-Yuffie-interaction, that much I can promise. Unfortunately, I can't tell you when it'll be out, but I definitely won't make you wait for another four months ;)

So now, I've got to thank all those faithful reviewers who hopefully haven't grown tired of my extraordinarily slow writing yet: saharasfury, Chaotic Rei, TOWTWUKER, Sonicron, the Dah, Kadaj-chan and PerfectAbuse - Thank you!

And happy new year, everyone! xD 

Greetings,  
Linnya


	13. Memento Mori

**Like The Sun, Like The Moon**

Chapter Twelve

It had been a wonderful afternoon; ever since their arrival in Nibelheim, the weather had been humouring them with warm, pleasant sunshine which allowed even the town's general creepiness to appear as a welcoming kind of hospitality. And although Cloud had, much to her dismay, refused to include her in his investigatory platoon, Yuffie had quickly learnt to appreciate a while of undisturbed togetherness with her one and only… best friend.

At the moment they were sitting peacefully at a table in one of the local inn's well-lit rooms, playing a game of chess in amiable silence and blissful ignorance; it nearly felt as if, only a few houses away, their travel mates _weren't_ fighting for their lives right then… almost as if Yuffie _hadn't_ drawn an utterly disturbing conclusion many hours ago that had been nagging at her ever since then.  
Certainly she didn't want to spoil the atmosphere, that much she had so far realized while staring blankly at the chessboard in front of her, but then again…  
…  
"You're Jenova's son," she finally declared in the bluntest fashion possible, shattering the silence as well as his black pawn when she made her white queen slay it in a rather random, rather cruel fashion.

He quirked an eyebrow. "So suddenly?" he wondered aloud as he collected the former pawn's fragments and cast them aside before threatening the queen with his last tower.

"Don't suddenly me," she snarled and crushed the deceased pawn's neighbour under her queen, "That's an important piece of information you've been hiding from me, you know."

"I hadn't thought you'd have a problem with my heritage," he quipped lightly and took the queen out with his tower, frowning briefly at the second pawn's remains – the girl had practically pulverized the poor guy.

"You said you'd destroy her. It. Whatever," Yuffie went on, grabbed the queen he had just set down outside the chessboard and used it to slaughter a third, innocent inhabitant of Pawn Street. "Jenova, I mean."

"You are defying the laws of chess," he informed her as he let one of the dead pawns' relatives avenge his brothers.

"But you are carrying her cells as well." When she noticed he had placed the queen in a safe distance, she grabbed the white king instead and used it to fling three pawns in a row off the board in one single movement. "Not the current you, the real you."

With practised ease, he caught all three chessmen. However, his eyes wouldn't meet Yuffie's intent gaze. "You're asking us to…" she all but mumbled, hesitant all of a sudden, "…no, you are _making us…"_ She gulped, her final words a mere whisper. "…kill you…" Her demanding stare, fixed on him, turned almost pleading. "…aren't you?"

And with all the calmness in the world, he placed the pawns on the table. He didn't answer after that, but simply gazed out of the window with an unreadable expression on his face.

Yuffie's face fell, yet she couldn't even voice her disappointment – her throat felt far too dry so suddenly. Thus she, too, directed her attention at the steadily growing shadows cast onto the town by an undoubtedly beautiful sunset.  
For a while, she watched a spiky blond head wiggling around the market place, soon vanishing from her field of vision. Less than a minute later, the last, warm beams were gone at last; the sun had eventually vanished beyond the horizon.

And finally, Leon decided to grace her with an answer.

"It's funny," he announced with a miniscule smile on his lips, "the way you just phrased it…" His face turned blank once more. "…almost makes me feel sorry to have chosen this procedure."

Silence.

She'd thought she would be ranting, possibly crying, at least gasping or something.

But she simply sat in silence, gazing at everything and nothing at the same time – anywhere but at him.

She vaguely wondered about her inability to express her feelings just then, but at the very moment she did so, she realized she couldn't even pinpoint them. There were so many thoughts, so many emotions running through her body that she ended up incapable of grasping any of them.

Was it sadness?

Was it fear?

Or even anger?

Possibly disappointment or despair.

But no…whichever sensation she named, it didn't quite fit what she was experiencing. It was more like an overwhelming mixture of all of them, so overwhelming in fact that she soon gave up her attempts on defining them.

Apropos… maybe resignation was the most adequate term to describe her current state of mind. After all he had left quite a number of hints and facts pointing in that direction, subtly and yet unambiguously. Upon combining what little he'd told her, she'd soon figured it out. She'd known for nearly a day already; after mulling over the mystery that was her friend throughout a relatively comfortable car ride from Cosmo Canyon and beyond, everyone would have come to that conclusion.

And yet, a bit of hope had remained. The hope that maybe she was overanalyzing, just interpreting too much into his words.

By now, however, she knew better. She had to realize that her hope had merely been an illusion. Sephiroth wasn't a man not to consider his words twice before phrasing them. He was a man smart enough to be completely aware of what he said, what he implied and what he didn't voice at all; this was, after all, one of the qualities she'd always admired him for.

But even if he hadn't uttered all those clues on purpose – which was highly unlikely anyway – his latest statement had completely annihilated any doubts or hopes there could have been.

He was planning to die.

He was honestly planning to die.

…at their hand.

She gulped. It was her first conscious action in minutes and as such finally succeeded in awakening her from her stupor. His words, his plans weighed more heavily on her than ever, and yet the though felt somehow…distant, so oddly unreal she was still barely able to register them as facts.

Blinking twice, she kept herself from digressing again. She would drown in desperation and self-pity later on, but she hadn't even tried yet. Maybe he wasn't quite as determined as he sounded…?

Cautiously, she stole a glance at her companion. He was sitting as calmly as ever, gazing out of the window with an apparently nonchalant expression. Even the beautiful sunset unfolding itself before them didn't seem to faze him. And yet, knowing just where to look, she did notice his eyes had narrowed ever so slightly.

He was deep in thought as well.

"You're serious about this, aren't you," she finally stated, her voice soft yet shaky.

His eyes met hers. "Obviously I am," he replied matter-of-factly, his face betraying none of his feelings.

Yuffie sighed. So he wasn't about to be very cooperative in this talk, which only made it more difficult for her to figure out the right questions to ask. Isn't there a way around it? Do you value your life so little? What am I supposed to do without you? All those questions felt far too insensible, but then again, all questions or suggestions probably would, considering the topic's delicacy. Thus, she simply settled with a plain "Why?" – for now.

At that, he sent her a long, intent look and spoke at last, "I do believe you listened to my explanation back at Cosmo Canyon. Jenova has to be eliminated completely, which also applies to anything originating from it."

It wasn't the first time that day that his words hit her like a punch in the face, but she wouldn't let it show. "Even if," she declared in a rather nervous fashion, "Originating from it doesn't make you guilty." She sought his eyes. "As long as you stay as great a person as you are…" Her voice grew softer. "…you shouldn't need to die."

Again, he took his time in responding, obviously pondering just how to counter her display of affection. "As long as Jenova exists, in whichever form that may be, peace won't return to this world," he stated matter-of-factly, "There is no alternative."

She was stunned for a second, yet finally her face twisted in sudden irritation. Or maybe it was frustration, she wasn't so sure.

Not that she minded.

Her temper was living up again, and she couldn't be more grateful. "But you _are not_ Jenova!" she stressed, rising from her chair while hammering both her palms onto the table, causing the still assembled chessmen to shiver in fear. "You can't just generalize this! You may be its son, but that doesn't mean you're the same – and that makes a big difference!" She paused briefly to stress her words' and glare's effect before continuing at a more understanding yet still annoyed tone, "And yes, I know you're currently inhabiting her…its body, but you are definitely _not_ Jenova – you can't simply give up your will to live! We'll just have to get back your real body and find you a cure. I'm sure there's some materia, some therapy…some something out there that'll help." Her face softened at last. "There has to be." As she looked down at him, the faintest of smiles appeared on her face, even though it was a bitter one. "There's still hope," she concluded.

And there it was again, the word that had deluded her way too often for comfort.

Hope.

A word of many meanings. Primarily, it was used as a positive, optimistic word, but then again…

"Hope is a mere excuse for resignation."

She stared at him blankly. There were so many layers to that statement she didn't even bother counting them, but decided to respond to the most obvious one before it would get her confused. "Hope is also a cure to resignation."

He sent her an odd look, calculating and sympathetic. "That may be true."

Bewildered, she returned his look.

She didn't know what it meant.

He, however, did.

As much as her sudden optimism flattered him, he knew it was unfounded. Her so called hope was based on the assumption that he was merely Jenova's son. Yet while she knew he was at the moment wandering around in the enemy's body, he'd never revealed a certain part of his master plan to her.

The part in which he'd end up fusing with Jenova.

But as desperate her wishful thinking sounded, he decided not to shatter her hope just yet. Instead he got up wordlessly and looked out of the window, frowning at a set of blond spikes wiggling its way towards the other end of town, their little group's alleged leader's cubic frame all but glowing under the last, fiery red rays of the setting sun.

With a sigh he returned his attention to the young ninja still watching him expectantly. "You're free to research whatever you deem necessary," he spoke in his usual, expressionless intonation, "…but you shouldn't get your hopes up too high." As always, he hadn't quite voiced everything that was crossing his mind just then, and yet it was enough…for the time being.  
Enough awkward conversation for the day.  
Enough interaction that might hinder his mission.  
And so he sent her a final glance before exiting at last.

Yuffie stared at him wordlessly. Her mind was, once more, on overdrive. But eventually, she followed his example and looked out of the window, catching just another glimpse of blond and dusky sunrays. She rolled her eyes, when suddenly they fell onto the chessboard. Her lips curled into a lopsided smirk.

As much as Cloud's frequent game overs annoyed her, at least the chessmen she had formerly slaughtered were alive once again.

Not to mention that she'd been able to witness the same, beautiful sunset thrice in a row – even though she would have enjoyed it far more under less depressing circumstances.

It was then that a thought occurred to her – an odd thought, somewhat illusory and even clichéd, but maybe it could work – maybe enjoyment was the keyword.

She would be looking for a cure wherever she could, but in the meantime, she would do her best to make him, if not happy, then at least happi_er_.

For if she could lighten up his life, he might actually learn to value it.

End of Chapter Twelve

* * *

A/N: ...sooo...slow...  
...so...incredibly...slow...  
...and...tardy ...  
...and...incredibly sorry as well! 

I've been owing you guys this chapter for, like, forever, and I wish my muse hadn't abandoned me all those months ago. Or rather, my homework shooed it away - the last months of my school life have been the most exhausting ones as well.  
But since I haven't had much time for creativity back then, I'm proud to declare that I'm now twice as motivated! Thanks to that the next chapter is well under way. Actually, it was supposed to be a part of this one, but I decided to give my chapters a moderate length of 2000 to 3000 words from now on, so that I don't lose my inspiration as easily and can update more often. I hope you don't mind this too much.

Anyway, I'll just try to pacify you by going straight back to working on the next chapter - I soooooo feel like writing at the moment! 

With lotsa luv and greetings,  
Linnya

..and especially much luv and even more greetings to those adorable people who reviewed (102 already, yay!) moonstarlight, Peanuckle, thunder sister, TOWTWUKER and GodOfDespair - I love you guys! And special thanks go to moonstarlight for the nice wake up call; I really needed one of such :)

Cya in the next chapter, and don't forget to drop a review!


	14. Cleanin Out My Strongbox

**Like The Sun, Like The Moon**

Chapter Thirteen

It was hostile.

It was strong.

It was red and purple.

And geez, it was huge!

Maybe not as huge as other fiends they'd encountered so far…

Still, the thing known as Lost Number was definitely bigger than the safe it had appeared from.

And obviously, it was giving Cloud, Tifa and Barret quite a hard time just then. They seemed to be fighting with everything they had, and yet they weren't even close to overpowering that beast.

"Leon?!" he suddenly heard Tifa's voice gasp in surprise, "What are you doing here?!"

He arched an eyebrow. She must have sighted him while flinging that potion onto the puppet – which had, oddly enough, actually healed the blond rather than hurt him – now however, she was yet again concentrating on her current battle, bouncing to and fro in accordance with the melodious battle theme. It seemed as if she wasn't paying any attention to him any longer, if she ever had.

Nonetheless, he bothered uttering the monotone reply of "I could ask you the same thing." Simultaneously, he stole a quick glance at the troop's stats menu and immediately knew 'what they were doing there'.

Obviously, they were doing their best.

But in their case, the best just wasn't good enough.

Certainly, he did appreciate their performance. As a matter of fact, their teamwork and strategies could actually be seen as effective. But even the best plan was doomed to failure if you lacked the strength necessary to execute it.

And from the looks of it, the trio did lack the strength necessary; they were quite a few levels too weak for this enemy. Maybe the powers-that-be had simply expected them to defeat it later on, maybe they should just have gone out to train some more beforehand. Or maybe they could need some support.  
He was just about to show some camaraderie by offering his help when he heard Cloud's voice all but commanding, "Leon, please, it's safer if you just left again."

Naturally, the brunet couldn't help frowning in disbelief. Had the clone really just said what he thought he had? Had Cloud Strife really just admitted actually caring for his travel mate's welfare?

"If it's the four of us fighting, it's the same as cheating, and you know how horrible that would be," the blond added without even turning to look at the one he was addressing, "The entire game might have a major breakdown!"

Inwardly, Leon groaned at that. Outwardly, he merely sighed.  
If they insisted on losing again, then so be it – they would just try again and again until eventually, an enormous streak of luck would enable them success. Certainly, it wouldn't be a real win, more like a mutual annihilation, but in the best case scenario, one of the good guys would still be standing, HP dangerously low, but not quite 0 yet.

This time, he really groaned. It would take them _ages_ to accomplish that feat.

Well, not in the literal way. Technically, about the same amount of time would pass their higher-level selves would take to properly defeat the monster.

But if you counted the countless tries they would definitely need…an eternity would pass.

And that wonderful day would never end.

Really, it was a nuisance. Just then, he truly regretted having joined the puppet's little fighting club – if he hadn't, he wouldn't be condemned to actually notice how many game overs they experienced. But as luck would have it, he'd be forced to wait throughout the whole ordeal – after all, there was some truth to the clone's warning: the game's limits shouldn't be challenged.

Thus, Leon simply shrugged and left without any further words.

_Time to do some reading…_

Suddenly, the world around him changed.

_…or not._

Once again, he found himself sitting in front of a chessboard, the sun descending on his right, a ninja shrugging on his left. A second later, she was frowning though, in a reproachful kind of way, as if she'd only then remembered that she was still supposed to be angry at him after their little chat.

Or at least pouting.

Either way, she didn't say anything, but simply grimaced at him in utter indecision.

He stared back, waiting for her to make up her mind.

And then Cloud stormed into the room. Even though the save point wasn't that far away, he seemed to have covered the distance running, hence he looked the worse for wear upon arrival. Yet when both Leon and Yuffie tilted their heads in the newcomer's direction, one arching an eyebrow, the other one all but glowering, the blond's formerly weary expression had miraculously turned into his trademark sort of sheepish grin.

"Hello there!" he greeted them and slumped onto the third chair at the table, "I was wondering whether…umm…" He scratched the back of his head. "…the two of you…erm…" He awkwardly looked at both of them. "…would like to…" His smile grew ever so nervous. "…come with me on a little walk…" Glancing out of the window, he coughed uneasily, "…on this nice evening?" Again, he looked up at his two comrades, still as uncomfortable yet a tad expectant as well.

But the awkward silence that would have prevailed after his suspect speech under normal circumstances didn't even get a chance to settle this time…

"So you finally scared Tifa away, huh?"

Cloud choked in response. Not because the statement hit the nail on the head, but because he hadn't quite expected such an offhanded, all but casual remark…

From Leon.

Even Yuffie gasped in surprise.

Naturally, the otherwise stern and silent ex-SOLDIER would respond to her outburst with a disapproving frown.

Yet before any further tension could build up, Cloud wisely decided to simply answer his travel mate's question. "I'm afraid she got kinda angry," he explained in a somewhat hasty fashion, "I told her we'd just have to keep trying, but she wouldn't even listen and just…" He almost looked sad at that point. "…left. And of course Barrett wouldn't stay, either."

Leon didn't show any sympathy. "After so many near-death experiences, this behaviour is hardly surprising," he pointed out.

After that, Cloud looked even more miserable and was, shockingly enough, speechless for a while. "Once the thing is defeated, they said they'd come back," he informed them, a hint of hope in his voice.

But in spite of his wonderful performance, Yuffie couldn't help gaping openly at the blond. "You're honestly asking us to go game over on you instead of Tifa and Barett?" she all but hissed, watching him suspiciously.

Again, the blond scratched the back of his head. "I think some training would be useful," he laughed nervously, "…especially since your stats are still way below Tifa and Barrett's."

_Ouch._

As Yuffie's jaw hit the floor with an audible plonk, Leon's eyes narrowed.

Dramatically.

Which wasn't much, mind you, but, gee, it meant a lot…a bad lot.

And so, in order to prevent the worst, one Yuffie Kisaragi took the freedom to lethally punch the punk herself. "Darn, Cloud!" she exclaimed, getting up to tower over their fallen leader, "That's _not_ a way of asking for help!" With an angry hiss, she slumped back into her chair, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Go learn some manners already!" And as if her words hadn't been stressed enough already, she abruptly turned her head away, hmphing in the process.

If Cloud hadn't looked like an abandoned puppy already, he certainly did by then.

...not that he didn't deserve it.

In fact, Yuffie was just about to start another assaulting spree – a good and reliable way of releasing her frustration – when Leon, once again, did something somewhat…unexpected.

He got up.

"Let's just defeat that boss and be done with it," he stated in a mildly annoyed manner and started towards the door, "We ought to leave this town behind as soon as possible."

Yet while both his companions gaped at first, Yuffie's face suddenly grew solemn.

If he wants to leave as soon as possible, then…

She gulped.

…I won't have much time to figure something out.

Uncertainly, she glanced after her friend, but suddenly her eyes fell onto a somewhat surprised Cloud watching her with a questioning expression. She narrowed her eyes at him and stormed after Leon.

She might not have a plan yet, but the training would at least give her an opportunity to properly think things over. Besides, she was definitely looking forward to spending a few hours with her very best friend, fighting alongside him against hordes of brutal creatures. While she had occasionally caught a glimpse of his rumoured skill, she'd never actually witnessed him fighting, let alone participated in such a battle.

So naturally, the prospect of it all but thrilled her.

Too bad she never got to savour it.

Just before ordering Cloud to unlock the safe, Leon had made it crystal clear that he had "no desire whatsoever to waste countless hours running around aimlessly in order to slay fiends that wouldn't even come into being if it wasn't for some whimsical humans' urge to prove themselves."

Needless to say, both his current team-mates had been caught off guard by that statement: only after several moments of stunned silence did Cloud dare to utter, "But we'll never defeat it like this…" He trailed off, sending a helpless glance at Yuffie.

She merely shrugged back, briefly considering which clichéd answer would most probably set the blond at ease. "Brute strength isn't everything, you know," she finally drawled, and as predicted, her words had the desired effect: Cloud's eyes lit up with realization.

Simultaneously, she noted Leon's head tilting ever so slightly. This was a good sign, or at least she hoped so. While she certainly wouldn't have minded a little training session, she wouldn't risk getting on his bad side.

And so, with their squad leader outnumbered relentlessly, Pandora's box was soon opened yet again.

But only to Cloud's surprise the plague it had contained was exterminated surprisingly…effortlessly.

Just moments after the monster had appeared in its red and violet glory, Leon had advised Yuffie to try her Enemy Skill's Death Sentence on the thing. She'd frowned at him, knowing perfectly well that such an attack wouldn't have much of an effect in a boss battle.

Hence, she was rather shocked when her action was shortly followed by a white 10 appearing above the fiend's…erm… head…, decreasing ever so gradually.

Instantly, her head spun sideward. "What did you do?" she asked the only person that could possibly be responsible for this phenomenon.

With his face as blank as ever, he arched an eyebrow at her. "What do you think I did?" he challenged her quietly.

She narrowed her eyes, but suddenly remembered that they weren't only in Cloud's company, but also in the middle of a fight. Thus, she shot him a quick glare and began robbing the monster until its days were numbered – after one short, probably painful seizure, it vanished into thin air, leaving behind…

"A basement key?" Cloud wondered aloud, staring at the metallic object as if it could answer any of his questions.

"Duh," Yuffie remarked dryly, glancing over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of their latest loot, "I sure wonder where we could use that."

Cloud looked at her.

She used the opportunity to quietly slip the newly won Odin materia into her pockets and, on second thought, snatched the so called 'Cosmo Memory' as well.  
Even though she had no clue of its actual purpose.

"The basement's downstairs," the blond had offered in the meantime.

She couldn't help grinning – new treasures always made her happy. Thankfully, Cloud, their 'rightful owner' hadn't even noticed their absence yet. Leon had, though…but he didn't seem to mind, and so her mood reached new heights within seconds. "C'mon, you guys!" she finally chirped and all but danced out of the room, "What are we waiting for!" And off she was, heading for the basement.

…and oddly enough, they found a locked door down there. Yuffie didn't even need to tease Cloud into using the key; he actually opened himself. Yet even though she'd known nothing pleasant would be awaiting them behind a locked door in the basement of an old, ominous Shinra mansion, she certainly hadn't expected this.

A burial vault.

Full of spider webs and coffins.

She didn't mind the spiders, but the coffins…were a different matter entirely. She didn't particularly like the thought of death, now less than ever, and this place practically reeked of it.

...urks.

She could barely stand the heavy atmosphere within that dark cave, but at the same time, she couldn't keep her eyes off the dusty coffin so conveniently placed in the centre of the room. And all of a sudden, an odd sensation overcame her. Somehow she felt the unexplainable urge to take a look inside.

It was childish, tactless and macabre.

But obviously she wasn't the only one with that idea: even before she'd decided whether or not to do such a stupid thing, Cloud had kicked the coffin open.

"Who is this?"

…revealing a strange man.

Although, in her opinion, said man wasn't strange at all. As he slowly opened a pair of strikingly red eyes, analyzing each of them carefully, Yuffie actually considered him rather intriguing, attractive even. Maybe his general appearance truly was a bit…different…but she wouldn't call him _strange_.

Nonetheless, his description did.

"…never seen you," he suddenly stated in his oddly monotonous voice, "You must leave." It wasn't an unpleasant voice, though, Yuffie noted. However, this wasn't the only thing she noted, for obviously the stranger hadn't only piqued her interest, but Leon's as well. The brunet was still leaning rather casually against the doorframe, just as he'd done ever since entering the room, but he was watching the unknown man closely. As if he was just deciding what to make of such an unusual person, determining whether to evaluate him as a threat or not.

Or maybe…it was recognition.

On cue, Leon's voice echoed through the cave. "You're a turk," he declared in a low yet clear tone, causing Yuffie and Cloud to jerk up in surprise. Said turk, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. "That was a long time ago," he stated after a while and closed his eyes yet again, ready to rest on.

However, Leon wouldn't let him. "Why are you sleeping down here," he demanded quietly and lowered his head a bit, "if there is so much to do?"

Opening his eyes once more, the strange man watched him with an unreadable expression. "There is nothing left for me to do but to atone for my sins," he responded impassively.

"You can only atone by rectifying your deeds," Leon replied darkly. It was only a simple sentence, it wasn't even phrased remotely passionately – and yet the stranger finally seemed willing to keep up this conversation. "Rectifying…" he mumbled softly, apparently deep in thought before addressing the other man once more. "What would you know?" Yet in spite of his intrigue, both his face and voice were devoid of all emotions yet again.

"Sephiroth," Cloud suddenly said.

Inwardly, Leon smirked. So the puppet had finally caught on.

Inwardly, Yuffie flinched. So he was truly trying to recruit even more people that would ultimately…destroy him? That thought didn't sit well with her – not at all.  
She gulped, when suddenly, a very unwelcome utterance reached her ears. "Sephiroth has lost his mind," Cloud explained.  
She shot him a glare before remembering that yes, Sephiroth was seen as a lunatic by most, nearly all her current travel mates – and that even though he was, in fact, the sanest of them all.

Oh, it made her so angry!

And yet she gulped down her fury. As much as she'd like to reveal his true, amiable nature to the whole world, she wouldn't jeopardize what he was willing to risk his life, his future and even his reputation for.

Everyone would remember him as a mad villain – and he actually wanted it to! The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. And on top of it all, Cloud just couldn't stop retelling the tale of her idol's alleged misdeeds to the stranger now known as Vincent Valentine.

No matter how much she tried to slip back in her role, she couldn't help boiling inside.

Her party leader's point of view was just wrong – whichever way she looked at it. He would keep reporting on Sephiroth's _madness_, his oh-so-evil plans to take over the world, his inhuman strength and, well, his inhumanity to begin with.

She couldn't stand it.

What was wrong with being different?

What was wrong with being strong?

And…

What was wrong with trying to save the world?

Drooping, she stared at the uneven and dusty floor.

Why the hell did Sephiroth of all people have to do that, anyway?

He didn't deserve this. It just wasn't fair!

"She had made up her mind," she suddenly heard Leon's voice from next to her, "I don't think even you could have stopped her."

In utter bewilderment she blinked at him several times, yet finally she realized his words had been directed at Vincent rather than herself.

But when the brunet suddenly glanced at her, if only briefly, she realized it had actually been directed at _both_ Vincent and her.

Closing her eyes, she sighed softly.

What had they been talking about anyway?

She mentally slapped herself for zoning out yet again. While Cloud's tale hadn't contained any news, at least to her, she should have paid more attention to both Vincent's and Leon's words on that matter, for they might hold some vital information.

But as it was, she had, oh so cleverly, already missed half the story on "…Lucrecia," Vincent all but whispered, a hint of bitterness in his voice, "The woman who gave birth to Sephiroth."

…what?!

* * *

"His biological mother…" Cloud muttered in bewilderment as he exited the cave, followed closely by an equally confused Yuffie and a Leon as impassive as ever. Although even he could tell they had successfully intrigued Vincent, the peculiar ex-turk had eventually refused to acknowledge their presence any longer. 

"Give him some time to think it over," Leon had recommended, "He'll come with us once he realizes he cannot keep lamenting Lucrecia forever."

Lucrecia…

Which brought Cloud back to his current train of thought. Shuffling his feet along the corridor, he looked up at the bats grinning at him from the ceiling. "I'd like to know…" he drawled, absent-mindedly opening a door that stood in their way, "…whether Sephiroth knows of his biological mother."

"Oh, I'm sure he does."

He froze in an instant. Only vaguely did he notice Yuffie reacting in a similar way.

"But whether this knowledge is of any relevance at all…" the icy voice went on in a chillingly playful manner, "…hm…I wonder?"

It hit Cloud like a ton of bricks. They had just entered the library – they had just entered _that_ library. The one where everything had begun all those years ago.

The madness, the pain, the danger.

Would it also end here?

Lowering his head, he stared at the man whose murderous, green eyes had haunted him for so long.

"Lucrecia was a mere vessel," _he_ casually informed them as he strode along the bookshelves and out of their immediate sight, "She was only of…temporary use…"

Ignoring a ghastly pale Yuffie and an inexpressive Leon, the blond jogged after his former role-model to find him in the library's main study, lingering on the only chair with his legs carelessly on the table. "Well?" Sephiroth demanded, "Will you participate in the reunion?"

This time, he was directly looking into Cloud's eyes – and it sent shivers down the younger man's spine. "I don't even know what a reunion is!" he protested weakly.

Even though that was the dumbest answer the blond could have possibly come up with, Sephiroth grinned at him. "Jenova will be at the reunion," he announced brilliantly and threw his arms in the air, "Jenova will join the reunion becoming a calamity from the skies!"

Cloud could bear that intent, devilish gaze no longer and stared at the floor instead. "A calamity from the skies…" he mumbled.

So Leon had been right after all?

Where was he anyway?

Yet Cloud didn't have much time to wonder, for Sephiroth would quickly reclaim his attention. "I will go north past Mount Nibel…" the ex-general chatted conversationally, "…If you wish to find out…" Suddenly, his voice darkened, "…then follow."

At first, Cloud didn't dare looking up. Yet when he did at last, the silver-haired madman had long vanished, leaving behind nothing…but confusion.

But then again, it wasn't only Sephiroth's appearance that was confusing the blond at that moment – but his so called party's absence as well.

…

In reality, they weren't absent per se. They hadn't even left the room – they had simply refrained from following him to the deeper depths of library.

For as soon as Yuffie had caught sight of the fake, _mad_ Sephiroth, she had been both frozen and appalled.

And it was then that she had, more or less consciously, decided to drop the mask and demand answers right there and then.

"Why are you doing this?" she whispered tonelessly, not bothering to elaborate any further for she knew he could tell what she was referring to..

Of course he could. However, he didn't respond right away but rather leant back against the wall first. "Do you really think they would kill me," he finally spoke in a voice even more detached than usual.

"…if they actually liked me?"

End of Chapter Thirteen

* * *

A/N: Next chapter, Wutai chapter! Whoohoo! 

I hope you liked this one, it was a bit longer than the last one and a bit more action-ish as well :)

Lotsa thankies to moonstarlight, SAMPSON12187 and GodOfDespair for their lovely reviews - your kind and encouraging words are what keeps me running!

...although I would have been happy about a few more reviews, ahehe...

But oh well, I guess I can't have everything :p

Anyway, see you all in the next chapter!

Greetings,  
Linnya


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